Hampton's Hiatus
by unicorn1111
Summary: Alex and Olivia spend a weekend catching up with Liv's old rookie Kate Beckett and her partner Rick Castle, stories are told and friendships deepen
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** Hi and welcome to another short series. This forms part of my Intersecting Lines verse but is completely stand-alone, you don't have to read any of those stories to understand and hopefully enjoy this story.

For those who are interested the background to this story comes from my Rizzoli and Isles-based story 'Intersecting Lines'. In that universe Alex and Olivia and Jane and Maura are friends, each couple having taken the steps to move from friends to lovers one night in the stand-alone short story 'Hearts on the Shopping Block". Their friendship continues throughout 'Intersecting Lines Book 2' and will further develop in 'Intersecting Lines Book 3'.

In 'Intersecting Lines Book 2', Alex and Olivia, Jane and Maura and their friends attend the New York City Mayor's Charity Ball, where they cross paths with Olivia's rookie from her days as a beat cop, Kate Beckett and her partner Richard Castle. Their friendship rekindled, they share a night of fun with friends old and new, agreeing that they will do all they can to stay in touch, including spending time together.

This story covers the events of one such weekend. I hope you enjoy it.

Usual disclaimers apply here, I don't own any of the characters in this story, I'm just playing with them for a while.

 **Hampton's Hiatus**

 **01 Friday Night**

Alex's viewpoint

The drive was relaxing, we both appreciated an early exit to the working week and beating the Friday afternoon rush hour, getting the hell away from the misery of the work we do, heading out onto Long Island towards Rick Castle's place in the Hampton's for a long-anticipated weekend of fun and relaxation.

We'd followed the directions Rick had texted and combined with my own experience making the run up to the Hampton's we'd found their house without any problems; pausing at the entrance to the driveway, Liv taking in the house and its beach front surrounds and then turned to look across at me, a little awed, something that came across in her voice.

"Wow" I had to nod, taking in the house; I'd grown up spending summer vacations in the Hamptons and was used to the houses up here but even I had to admire the beautiful house and its spectacular setting; somewhat isolated and backed onto the beach where it looked out over the ocean, was pretty amazing. Looking back to Liv I smiled in anticipation before speaking.

"Nice, this should be a good weekend" We shared a look, one part excitement, one part anticipation and one part contentment, ever since Liv and her old partner Kate Beckett had reconnected at the New York Mayor's Charity Ball two months back, we'd caught up numerous times, drinks out, dinner at Rick and Kate's loft, lunch at our apartment, but a whole weekend together at their holiday home was going to be something special.

I was really looking forward to hearing stories about the two of them as partners, from what I'd already gathered Kate had been assigned as Liv's rookie when they'd both been beat cops back in the 27th precinct but I hadn't learned a whole lot more than that, Liv was pretty good at deflecting interest in her past, instead turning the conversation onto other things, usually with the comment that it was just ' _boring beat stuff_ '. I finally had the chance to learn more and quite frankly, with a whole weekend to dig into their background together I couldn't wait.

Making our way up the drive and pulling up in front of the house, we saw Rick walking out to meet us, casual in jeans and a loose deep-blue shirt that brought out the blue in his eyes, his smile widening as he took in Liv's ageless black '65 Mustang convertible. As we got out he stepped forward, wrapping first Liv then I in hugs and kisses on the cheeks before stepping back and running his eyes over the car once more.

"I do love a woman who appreciates the classics" I just grinned at him, the chance to tease too good to pass up.

"Is that why you love Kate, because she appreciates you?" Rick laughed heartily, completely unfazed by my insinuations.

"Why thank you for the compliment but I'm not the only classic that Kate owns" He pulled out a remote from his jeans and pressed a button, the doors to the garage lifting in response; there sitting inside the multi-car garage with Rick's red Ferrari and a silver Mercedes sedan was a classic Harley Davidson Soft Tail. Rick turned and smiled at Liv's happy whoop.

"She kept it?" Rick nodded, obviously proud as punch about his girlfriend's bike, something which came out in his tone.

"Kate rode up here last night; it's safer kept here than in a storage unit back in New York, there's been a spate of break-ins there in the last six months so we'll keep it up here for now" We spent a few seconds admiring the beautiful, classic bike before Rick spoke once more.

"There's apparently a really big storm passing through tonight so you should put the beast inside" We nodded, having heard the same on the radio on the way up; Liv nodded her thanks at Rick's offer before hopping back in and manoeuvring the Mustang into the garage between the Harley and the Ferrari. That done we grabbed our bags and made our way inside where we were met by Kate, full of apologies as she'd been down at the beach front when we'd arrived, with hugs and kisses exchanged all round. I stood there and took her in, relaxed and comfortable in jeans, a light-grey loose-knitted long cardigan over a baby-blue tee and simple woven sandals on her feet, hair tousled in the ocean breeze, she looked both happy and very content.

Dinner was great, Rick had whipped up a great Italian-themed dinner, caprese salad with pesto sauce for an entrée, mushroom risotto and fettuccine for the main, he really was a good cook, enough so that Liv had teased him about it, telling him that she should place take-out orders with Rick's Café Italiane back in New York, getting a laugh from both Kate and Rick, while I'd ribbed him about a having a second career if readers ever tired of his Nikki Heat books.

Following coffee's, at Kate's suggestion we'd moved into the main room to sit in front of the roaring fireplace as Rick turned most of the lights off, giving us a front row seat to watch a big thunderstorm roll in from the ocean, full of lightning and thunder, the perfect night for reminiscing with friends about cases old and new, the weirder the better. Over the next two hours and some good red wine, we chatted about cases, the good ones, the bad ones, the weird ones.

As the thunder rolled and water streamed down the windows, backlit by the sheet lightening, Liv turned to smile fondly at me where I'd snuggled in against her, her arm around my shoulders, comfortable and warm, before looking back at Rick and Kate and speaking.

"I gotta admit when it comes to weird, you guys take the cake, the zombie story, the ghost hunting story, the alien abduction story, why does all the weird stuff happen to you?" Kate shrugged and looked up at Rick from where her head lay in his lap as she stretched out across the floor, before looking back and replying.

"It's all his fault really, my life was kinda normal till he wandered in" Rick gently smiled at her as he carefully tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear then looked up at us and spoke.

"I like to think I added a certain something, a little panache that was otherwise missing" Kate rolled her eyes at him, a smile threatening to break through.

"Sure Castle, like my life was so boring before you arrived" He grinned down at her.

"C'mon Beckett, you have to admit life's been interesting since we've been working together" I couldn't help laughing at the innocent look Rick was trying to pull off; it sure looked like Kate wasn't buying it for a second even as Liv spoke.

"He's got you there Kate" Kate just looked back over at us and smiled.

"Interesting, I suppose that's one word to describe it, maybe not the first one to come to mind, but yeah, interesting might cover it" I smiled and spoke.

"So tell me Kate, what words would you use?" Kate's smile widened as her eyes closed, her voice full of amused teasing.

"Let me work through the alphabet, aggravating, arrogant, annoying..." Rick looked down to where Kate's head lay in his lap; her long jeans-clad legs stretched across the floor towards the fireplace, her now socks-clad feet soaking up the warmth and ran his hand gently through Kate's chestnut-blonde locks, the tender care obvious.

"Why detective, your words wound me terribly" Kate just opened one eye and looked up at him, sarcasm dripping off her words.

"Let me guess Castle, you want me to kiss it all better?" She got a mock leer in return.

"Well, if you're offering..." Kate's eyes drifted shut again, her voice soft and warm.

"In your dreams Castle" Rick smiled slowly, then looked over at Liv and raised an eyebrow.

"So what was it like, being partners with Kate here?" I suddenly sat just a little straighter, I'd been fascinated by the same question for as long as I'd known about them both. Liv shrugged before answering.

"Pretty good, we worked hard, played hard; had some bad times, lots of good ones" Rick nodded, before pushing a little.

"It can't have been all work, tell us about some of the good stuff" Liv looked over at Kate and smiled as Kate's eyes half-opened and her head turned to watch Liv as my girlfriend spoke.

"We sorta dragged each other into various things, we each knew people who knew people so we'd get invites to all sorts of things" I sat there for a second waiting for her to volunteer more, I should have known better though, this is Olivia Benson we're talking about, she practically defines closemouthed. Realising with a bit of frustration she wasn't going to say anything I prodded her.

"What sort of things?" I'd meant to let the others chat but my curiosity was well and truly aroused, the chance to learn something more about my notoriously private girlfriend's pre-SVU past too good to let go without a fight. Kate smiled, her tawny eyes opening wider as she replied.

"Oh, lots of things. I remember one time I posed for an art class; it was fun and I enjoyed it so they asked if I knew anyone else. I arranged for Liv to pose for them, the teacher raved about her muscle definition for weeks afterwards" Rick smiled and nudged her shoulder gently.

"Was that the class where you posed in the..." Kate smiled and nodded. I looked at them both and mentally finished the sentence then turned my head to look at Liv.

"And what exactly were you wearing when you posed?" Liv gave me a mildly embarrassed look and shrugged, a little sheepishly, before replying.

"Not much, it was a nude's class after all" I frowned at the idea of Liv up in front of an art class, all painting or sketching furiously, I wasn't sure if I liked the idea of other people seeing my girlfriend, my lover, like that; a naked Liv was something I wanted to keep all for myself. Unaware of my thoughts Liv was still talking. "It paid enough for a dinner and drinks, so I was happy" Rick grinned, obviously happy to keep the ball rolling.

"So what other scandalous interludes did you two get up to?" Kate suddenly looked up, a wicked smile on her face.

"Oh all sorts of things" She smirked and looked over at Liv. "There was that party we went to…you remember the one Liv, in that place in Soho where we ended up with the two male models and the fashion designer..." Liv's cheeks were suddenly flaming red, getting a hoot from Kate. "Oh yeah, you remember all right" Rick tipped his head down to look at her.

"Beckett...?" Kate shook her head decisively before he looked up at Liv, who shook her head equally firmly.

"Uh uh, no way Castle, my lips are sealed" Liv looked over at Kate. "So are yours Beckett, unless you want me spilling on what you really did that night" I let my eyebrow rise as I turned my head to look Liv in the eye.

"And what exactly did you two get up too?" Olivia smiled and leaned over, giving me a kiss and them both an out.

"That's a story for another time" She got up and picked up both our glasses, making her way out to the kitchen to get a refill as I felt a mild scowl appear on my face as I watched my surprisingly slippery girlfriend once again escape cross examination. Rick meanwhile had skewered Kate with a look.

"Beckett…" She gave him a sly smile as she snuggled her head back into his lap, looking up and speaking, her voice carrying a teasing lilt.

"Remember when I told you that vampire party we busted was tame compared to some I'd been too?" Rick nodded.

"I remember" Kate just smiled sweetly up at him and said nothing, her eyes falling closed, drawing an exasperated look from Rick.

"Beckett…" Her grin was quick and teasing, just like her voice.

"No way, like Liv said, that's a story for another time" Rick and I exchanged a meaning-filled glance, both of us obviously making a mental note; we had to hear that story, soon.

The room was quiet, not an awkward one, instead a companionable one as we watched Liv make her way back with refilled glasses for her and I. Handing one down, she carefully sat back by my side, close enough to snuggle again, then looked over at Kate.

"I see you still ride, seeing as your baby's parked in the garage" Kate's eyes popped open as she grinned, looking round at Liv.

"Yeah, no way was I going to get rid of her. Do you still ride?" I looked up from my excellent Australian Shiraz in surprise; Liv rode motorcycles, since when? Unaware of my interest Liv shook her head, a little sadly I noted.

"Haven't for years, I don't even know if the leathers still fit" At that little tidbit I turned my head slowly to look at my continually-surprising girlfriend, I let my eyes narrow as my voice dropped, picking up a little of what Liv calls my 'courtroom' voice.

"Leathers, you wear…leathers?" Liv smiled a little guiltily.

"Um yeah, I used to ride, well Kate and I did, we'd go for rides on our weekends off, once every month or so, take our bikes, she had the Soft Tail, I had a Low Boy Fat Rider, we'd get out of the city and get our heads straight on the open road, stay somewhere overnight and head home on Sunday" I half-closed my eyes for a moment, imagining a young Liv in tight black leather on a Harley as I carefully swallowed at the picture; Rick smiled at me fondly, obviously reading my mind.

"Nice, I have to say I appreciate Kate here in black leather, I'm sure Liv'd look great too" Kate snickered from his lap, looked over at Liv and asked a question.

"Remember the time those Hell's Angel's tried to pick us up in that bar?" That got a laugh from Liv.

"The look on their faces when we said no, then told him if he didn't take his hand off you we'd arrest him" She looked around at Rick and I. "They didn't believe that we were cops, till we pulled out our badges and showed them our guns, after that they calmed right down. Ended up buying us drinks for the afternoon" There were smiles around the room at the thought, even as I snuggled in a little closer to Liv's reassuringly solid, powerful build, feeling her arm lift to allow me to scoot a little closer and then settle around my shoulders.

"Where's your bike now?" It was Kate, she frowned. "You do still have it?" Liv shook her head sadly.

"No, it was stolen right out of the storage place I had stashed it in" She frowned. "I tried to recover it but a guy in the auto theft team told me it was almost certainly either stripped down for parts or it'd been rebirthed for sale overseas" I frowned, noticing the slightly sad tone in Liv's voice and looked up at her

"You never thought of replacing it?" She looked down and smiled at me as she explained.

"I used the insurance money and bought the Mustang. I was working in SVU, I wasn't riding much then and I wanted something I could park in the garage or on the street that'd be reasonably secure" I nodded slowly as Kate interjected.

"That's a real shame, you loved that bike"

"I did, but it wasn't the same, riding alone" Rick smiled, a little crookedly.

"But you wouldn't be, I'm pretty sure that Alex would be happy to be your bitch, wouldn't you?" I looked across at him, frowning at the term, something Kate must have seen because she laughed.

"It's a term for the partner who rides behind the bike's owner" She glanced at Rick then back at me. "That makes Castle here my bitch" I nodded sagely then looked over at Rick.

"You happy being Kate's bitch Rick?" He pretended to think about it for a moment then tipped a fond smile at Kate.

"It's a cross I bear, the long-suffering partner" Kate looked up at him, her voice full of scorn.

"Suffering, you, since when?" He smiled down at her indulgently as he replied, the humour apparent in his voice.

"Snuggled up against you, while you're wearing tight black riding leather but out in public where I can't do anything about it?" He glanced up and flashed us both a wicked grin as he continued. "You bet I suffer" They shared a quick smile before he bent over and kissed her, it was meant to be a quick peck but Kate hooked her arm around his head and held him there for a moment as they kissed, full of love and passion. I finally turned away, a little embarrassed and a little turned on and looked up at Liv, seeing her smiling at her friend before asking her a question.

"So tell me Liv, what would it take for you to ride again?" She smiled back at me as she answered. .

"I dunno, if we had a chance maybe I could borrow Kate's bike and we could ride around a couple of the back streets" I nodded, already imagining myself snuggled up behind my girlfriend on the back of a bike, feeling a slow growing heat at the thought.

"Will it involve you in leather?" She smiled, a little wickedly.

"Maybe, maybe not" I couldn't help the pout that appeared at her teasing, before Liv leaned forward and kissed me soundly. For a moment I lost myself in her kiss, feeling my body respond to her, a hum running through me as she soundly plundered my mouth with her tongue, drawing a low moan from me unbidden, before finally pulling apart to see Rick and Kate watching us, I could feel my cheeks redden as I realised they'd seen and heard it all. Kate nodded once.

I don't normally let anyone ride my baby, but for Liv?" She smiled and tipped her head Liv's way. "I think I can make an exception"


	2. Chapter 2

**Hampton's Hiatus**

 **02 Saturday Morning**

Rick's viewpoint

I could so easily get used to our mornings starting out like this every day, no late night calls, no body drops, just us enjoying the quiet of the morning and each other.

I'd woken up to find Kate had moved from being curled into my side to snuggled up laying mostly on top of me, her warm and gentle weight both welcome and comforting so I'd happily lay there for a while, just listening to the soft sound of her breathing, the gentle sussuration of her breath warm on my neck as her hair spilled across my chest, a slight tickle against my skin.

Just her presence here with me made me smile, that after years of missed chances and lost opportunities we'd finally managed to overcome everything and get together. I'd been married twice, both times had been mistakes, the only good thing to come from either of them was Alexis, but with Kate I knew that she was the one, the most important person in my life right next to my daughter.

Sitting in a vault back in New York was a very special ring, hand-crafted by New York's finest master craftsman jeweler, just waiting for the right opportunity for me to slide it onto a long, slim finger. In that same vault was an equally beautiful ring that I would one day place on her finger at the altar, I couldn't wait.

That was for a day in the hopefully not too far distant future, right now though we lay there for a while before Kate started waking up, fidgeting for a few minutes as she climbed back up towards consciousness before she slowly raised her face to me and I looked into her sleepy, relaxed, gold-flecked eyes, a slow smile appearing on her face as she spoke, her voice thick with sleep.

"Mornin..." I smiled back, no matter how much I love the take-charge, kick-ass Detective Beckett and desire the sexually-insatiable woman she lets loose just for me; I adore soft and sleepy Kate even more.

"Morning to you too Kate, how do you feel?" Kate normally doesn't drink too much any more but we'd all had probably one or two more than normal last night, it'd been a very good night, full of laughter and stories, Liv and Alex had been great company and it had been a relaxed, fun night for us all. Kate looked into my eyes and smiled happily, her voice still carrying the last few traces of sleep.

"Surprisingly good actually" She leaned in for a kiss, slow and languorous and full of lazy promise, one we both happily lost ourselves in for a while before she abruptly rolled off me, taking the sheet with her as she stood, wrapping herself in it like some romantic comedy star in a 60's movie. I tried not to pout at her absence, missing her light weight and welcome warmth.

"Where are you going?" She just smiled that teasing smile I know so well, an undercurrent of her liquid laugh easily heard just below the surface.

"I know it might have skipped your attention Rick, but we have guests we need to take care care of" I smiled, running my eyes up and down that slim figure, even though I've become intimately familiar with it, I still hunger for her, probably always will, then looked back up at her, shrugging as I spoke.

"I'd rather take care of you..." I waggled my eyebrows, getting a shake of the head in return.

"You did a more than adequate job of that last night as you might recall" Oh I recalled all right...as did my body as it started to respond to the memories though Kate was still speaking. "No, we need to get up and check on Alex and Liv" I shrugged; rolling onto one side facing her way and propping myself up on one elbow to regard her as I spoke.

"So, they're adults, I'm sure they can survive on their own for a bit longer, besides I can think of better things to do…" Kate regarded me through narrowed eyes, her gaze sliding over my uncovered body, lingering on my now-exposed groin, watching my body's reaction to her presence with a speculative look in her eyes and a slow-growing smile and for a moment I thought I'd get lucky, before she abruptly shook her head.

"Good try, but nope" She turned and regally swept into the bathroom, dropping the sheet as she did, leaving me with a sight that had me bounding out of bed and chasing after her.

An hour later, having had a long and not particularly 'clean' shower, we wandered out to find Alex poking about in the kitchen, looking for our coffee stash for the espresso machine. With my help she was directed to the right spot and was soon brewing up a mean-looking coffee, much to my surprise. She waved the question away when I asked.

"Oh this, we got a similar one ourselves a few months back. Liv gets called out at all hours and I like to see her have a good strong coffee with her when she heads out" I smiled, picking up on the sub-text and appreciating the sentiment as she continued. "A friend of ours out in LA has one and she convinced me to get one too"

Kate meanwhile was working bacon, eggs and wholegrain toast for breakfast, the two blondes moving around one another in an unconscious dance. For a while just I sat and watched them, enjoying the show. In her own way Alex was just as beautiful as Kate, with her light blonde hair tumbling in waves and her glasses, she was half alluring siren, half sexy librarian, her loose sweater falling off one shoulder, yoga pants and ballet flats hiding none of her slim, runners figure; Liv was a very lucky woman, speaking of which…

"Where's Liv?" I got a laugh from Kate and a snicker from Alex before she answered.

"Liv isn't exactly what you might call a morning person" Alex hefted the coffee mug in her hand, a double-shot espresso. "Hence the heart-starter strength coffee" I smiled, knowing the feeling all too well as Kate turned and reached out for the cup, smiling just a little too happily for comfort.

"Oh please Alex, let me. I haven't had the 'pleasure' of waking a grumpy Benson in years. Besides, if it's me she'll be out quicker. If it's you she'll probably find way too many other reasons not to get out of bed, well not anytime soon anyway" I noticed Alex color gently before nodding and handing the cup over as I took in the wicked gleam in Kate's eye, she was enjoying this a whole lot more than she should, making me wonder once again just how close those two had been, back in the day.

"Probably a good idea" Alex mumbled as I took over cooking duties, watching Kate as she headed down the hall then up the stairs and along the open hallway overlooking the kitchen then looked over at Alex.

"Is Liv really that bad?" I got a distracted nod as Alex split her attention between me, the cooking and Kate's departing form and answered my question.

"Sometimes, it's got worse as she's gotten older, especially if she was up late" she said. "Let's just say Liv's not really a morning person if she doesn't have to be" Alex shrugged, her shapely shoulders rising and falling. "She says she loses enough sleep with late-night call outs that she doesn't want to get out of bed one second earlier than necessary" I nodded, Kate got enough of these for me to understand completely. "I normally get up and go for a run in the morning, then get a coffee brewed before waking her" My ears picked up at that.

"You and Kate should go for a run while you're here, she's a runner too and the beach is perfect, not too many people on it first thing" She looked over and smiled, reminding me just how lucky Liv was once again.

"That'd be cool, I have a pair of runners in the back of the car, though I might have to borrow some clothes, I didn't pack any"

"Shouldn't be a problem, Kate keeps plenty of clothes up here now" She went to say something when we were surprised by Kate's suddenly loud voice from above us.

"Benson, drag that lazy fat ass of yours out of bed!" Kate's yell echoed across the room from above, we both looked up to see her bang on the door, making our heads turn and us both smile. "Yes, I'm talking to you, get up you lazy bitch" I felt my eyebrows lift in surprise, seeing Alex's do the same as a muffled retort, probably obscene from the tone even though we couldn't hear it clearly, drifted down from above. I couldn't make it out but obviously Kate had, given her reply, the laughter evident in it.

"No I will not, besides being anatomically impossible, it'd probably hurt" We both smothered snorts at Kate's retort, before sharing another look at what followed. "Besides, that's what I've got Castle for. Anyway isn't that why Alex keeps you round? Lord knows you have to be good for something because you sure as hell can't get out of bed on your own" Alex and I were trying hard not to laugh even as Kate's voice drifted down again.

"I hope you've got clothes on Benson, cause I'm opening this door and I don't want to see any more than I have to, god knows I'm mentally scarred enough without seeing your buck-naked saggy ass yet again"

"It's not saggy..." I raised an eyebrow at Alex's muttered comment, seeing her cheeks flame bright red as she realised I'd heard, before I could say anything though Liv's voice came down from above, much clearer this time, I looked up to see Kate had thrown open the door to the guest bedroom and walked inside, their voices easily heard.

"Look all you want Beckett, just cause you're too skinny to have an ass doesn't mean you can't see what a real woman's looks like"

"Oh my god" At Alex's comment I looked up from where I was wiping my eyes to see the look of shock on Alex's face and evident in her voice. "Tell me she didn't actually say that?" I shrugged even as I smiled and replied.

"Looks like the latest round in a long running dispute" Alex nodded, but before she could reply there was an agonised moan, quite obviously Liv's.

"Gimme that coffee woman" It was Liv's voice, drawing a response from Kate.

"Get the hell up and get your ass downstairs" There was silence for a second as I exchanged a smirk with Alex before Liv's anguished shout reverberated out of the bedroom door.

"For God's sake, close the blinds woman it's too damned bright" Kate's voice held not the slightest hint of contrition.

"Serves you right, now get your lazy ass out of bed, breakfast's on" Liv's retort was quicksilver fast.

"If it's your cooking, I'll pass. I remember you were the one who couldn't cook worth a damn" Kate's denial was immediate.

"That's not true and you know it" Liv wasn't having a bar of it.

"Bull, I remember you trying hard to not dish up burnt toast the last time you made breakfast. And failing" Liv cackled a little, she was giving as good as she got and loving it. "It was toast for god sake Kate, toast!" Kate wasn't even a bit repentent.

"Hey, I was hungover, so were you for that matter" Olivia was dismissive.

"So, then nothing's changed" Her voice changed, louder. "Give me those goddamned covers you mean bitch" Kate's voice was full of amusement.

"Nope, get your useless fat butt out of bed and down to the kitchen now"

"Make me" Kate's smile could be heard in her voice.

"If I have to" Liv's voice was full of challenge.

"Don't get your ambitions and your capabilities mixed up" Kate chuckled then spoke up.

"Oh honey, I could so take you" "Liv's voice mimicked Kate's teasing.

"Oh honey, you are full of it" Kate was unabashed; her reply lightning fast.

"You're the one full of it all right, full of shit" Liv wasn't taking a backwards step.

"You're the one to know Beckett" Kate laughed then spoke.

"Oh I do, and I know you're full of it, now get up and come on down" Liv wasn't giving an inch, as her response proved.

"Isn't that your job, going down that is; I wouldn't want to intrude" I looked across to Alex to see her jaw drop, even as I shook my head in wonder. Kate's response was a little louder, as if she was approaching the bedroom door.

"Maybe you might get some tips" Liv's reply was pure dismissal.

"On that, I get no complaints from Alex, thank you very much" Kate's reply was full of laughter as she appeared in the doorway, turning to look back inside.

"I don't want to hear about your kinky exploits this early in the morning" Liv's reply was quick as.

"Why not, afraid you might learn something useful?"

"You got nothing to teach me Benson, now get up!"

"Or what?"

"Or miss breakfast and go without while Castle, Alex and I go out" I could see Kate turn and smile down at us both before she turned and made her way back towards the stairs.

"Bitch!" The word floated down the hall and out after Kate, making her smile even wider as she made her way down the stairs, before throwing a shout back over her shoulder.

"You should know!" She sauntered back into the kitchen and reclaimed her coffee mug, flashing us both a wickedly satisfied grin. "She'll be out soon enough"


	3. Chapter 3

**Hampton's Hiatus**

 **03 Saturday Lunch**

Alex's viewpoint

We'd headed out for some sight-seeing and window shopping and were now enjoying some fresh, hand-made panini's and coffee for lunch, the sun had come out and the streets and shops were full. Needless to say the teasing and stories hadn't stopped just because we were out.

Rick had just teased Kate about her coffee order, pointing out that if Kate went above point 05 blood in her caffeine stream she got tetchy. She'd quickly countered that she did not, only to have Rick lay out three recent examples where she'd done just that. Liv had shaken her head and smiled, then looked over at Kate and spoke.

"How DO you keep him in line?" At Liv's question Kate just smirked wickedly.

"There are ways and ways. In public, well, let's just say Rick here has very tender, very sensitive ears, just perfect for tweaking" Liv's smile turned into a matching smirk, reflected in her voice.

"And when you're not in public?" Kate's eyebrow raced skyward as her smirk deepened.

"Then there are other portions of his anatomy that are equally as sensitive that I can grab for" I snickered at the imagery her words painted and looked over at Rick before speaking.

"Better be good Rick, avoid any nasty entanglements" His smile was tender, quite obviously he didn't care too much about Kate's teasing.

"Oh, I waited years to be entangled with Kate, so I'm not complaining, well not too much" His smile changed to a smirk. "Besides, when it comes to entanglements, well Kate here is a detective, so she does have the cuffs" I chuckled.

"Don't use the standard issue ones, they leave horrible red marks on the wrists if you twist too much with them on" I looked over at Liv and saw her blush slightly as Rick chuckled softly.

"Yeah, we found that out a long time ago, good for holding suspects, not so much for…other uses" I smiled, getting to tease Liv while ostensibly chatting with Rick was naughty fun.

"You can get special cuffs, they do the job without the marks" I shrugged. "Friends of ours gave us a set of fur-lined leather cuffs that buckle on, they do the job just fine without leaving any hard-to-explain marks" Kate looked up, enquiry in her eyes.

"Was that Jane and Maura?" I shook my head.

"No, their friends Nat and Ana gave them to us as a present, we've got plenty of use out of them since" I turned to Liv, enjoying the flush the topic was bringing to her cheeks and teasing her a bit more. "Haven't we Tiger?" Liv just mumbled something and sipped her coffee as I let a wicked smile out; Rick of course couldn't leave that alone, kicking that particular can down the road a bit more.

"Interesting, maybe we can find out where they came from, if they're that good and they come with a personal recommendation…" I nodded over the cup of coffee I was cradling and replied.

"Oh yes, Liv and I have no complaints whatsoever, I'll get Nat to send me the details and I'll pass them on" At Rick's broad smile Kate spoke softly.

"Castle…" Kate's voice was low in mock warning, Rick though just laughed, before looking across at Kate.

"Eu te amo" I frowned, automatically translating the long-familiar words, ' _you love me_ '. It'd been a long time since I last heard those words; I still remember the endearingly teasing smile that had accompanied them. Looking over at him I raised an eyebrow and spoke.

"I didn't know you spoke Portuguese?" Rick shrugged.

"A bit, I dated this Brazilian model, not serious, we'd catch up when she was in New York" He turned to look at Kate as he continued. "That was way back before I met you" He shrugged. "Lila was nice but she was never more than a passing fling, she was way too wild to ever settle down" I nodded slowly as buried memories rapidly disinterred themselves, all sparkling eyes, pouty mouth, razor cheekbones and endless tanned legs, all going by the name of…

"That's Lila Arroya, right?" Rick looked my way and nodded once as he replied.

"Yeah, that's her" I smiled at the recollection, despite the years it was still a wonderful memory, something my voice must have carried.

"You're not wrong, she was never going to settle down" Kate looked over at me, her eyes widening in surprise.

"You know her too?" I nodded slowly before I became aware that Liv was staring at me, eyes wide. I looked over at her and made a 'what' gesture. Finally she spoke.

"We're talking Victoria's Secret, Sport's Illustrated Lila Arroya?" I shrugged; it wasn't as big a deal as Liv thought.

"Years ago, back before she became famous, we met at a party, I was miserable because a certain detective was unattainable, Lila was happy and gorgeous and sexy and we had some fun" I looked over at Rick and smiled. "Like you it was never serious, on and off for months whenever she was in New York; it helped scratch the itch when she was in town but she was never going to settle down in one place, always on the move to the next assignment" I tipped my head towards Liv as I continued. "Besides, she wasn't the one I wanted" Liv was staring at me like I'd suddenly grown a second head, Kate wasn't much better, her eyes flicking between Rick and I before she finally spoke, her voice low, slow and wondering.

"Both of you dated a supermodel, a Brazilian supermodel, the same Brazilian supermodel?" I felt my cheeks burn a little, when you put it that way… Rick stepped in to divert some of the attention away.

"I was recently divorced from my second wife Gina, my first wife Meredith was living in Hollywood, all wrapped up in her career rather than Alexis, life was pretty miserable and Lila was a happy diversion at a low point in my life, but not settling down material" He suddenly realised Kate was staring at him, her mouth open and smiled a little sheepishly before continuing. "Time spent with Lila was interesting and plenty of fun, but Lila wasn't what either of us wanted it seems" He glanced my way and nodded once. "We both wanted something we couldn't have" I nodded in reply as he shrugged and smiled at Kate before continuing "I wanted something amazing with someone real, Alex wanted the same with Liv, once I met you, well I'd found what I wanted and what I wanted was you"

Taking in Kate's soft, happy smile I turned to Liv, seeing the slightly stunned, wondering look on her face and hastily spoke, I understood her insecurity and needed her to understand.

"Lila was nice, I had a lot of fun times with her, but she was never you" I smiled at a happy memory as I pressed on. "She knew all about you, I mean how couldn't she? God knows I talked about you enough, how she neither got sick of it or jealous I'll never know" I grinned at the memory of one of her replies and shared it. "Lila asked me once should she get her hair cropped and wear a police uniform if it would help" I looked at Liv and smiled, happy to let her know once again just how much she meant to me. "The only reason I didn't get mad was she had offered several times to turn up at the precinct and tell you to your face to ask me out"

The look on Liv's face was priceless, she looked like she'd been hit with the proverbial animated baseball bat; the only thing missing was the cartoon canaries circling her head. Finally she pulled herself together enough to speak, her voice low and wondering.

"A Victoria's Secret supermodel walking into the squad room to give me lesbian dating advice, oh my god, can you imagine it; the guys in the squad would never let me hear the end of it" We all laughed together before Liv spoke again, her voice low and soft, her warm brown eyes turning to me. "Maybe if she had we wouldn't have wasted so much time" I slid my hand into hers and squeezed it tightly as I spoke.

"Hey, no regrets, we got together eventually" Kate looked up, curious.

"Yeah, how did that happen exactly?" I grinned happily at the memory as I replied.

"We were out shopping for clothes and ran into a homicide cop and her best friend, a medical examiner; that was Jane and Maura" Rick and Kate both nodded, remembering them both vividly from the New York Mayor's Charity Ball and the unforgettable night that followed. "During the course of that day Maura and I became aware of exactly how Liv and Jane felt about us" I glanced at Liv and smiled, seeing her soft smile as well as I continued. "We'd both been clueless before, thinking it wasn't reciprocated, but we each saw it clear as day in the other couple. We decided right then and there that we were going to get what we both desperately wanted" I shrugged, playing it down a little though in truth that had been one of the most important days of my life. "We gave each other enough courage to try and make them aware of how we felt. We practically forced Jane and Liv here into little black dresses and heels, went out to dinner together where we teased them silly then dragged them kicking and screaming into a lesbian nightclub and the rest is history" Kate sniggered a little.

"Liv here screaming, No, never" Liv just smiled before replying, her voice full of satisfaction.

"As I recall, you were the screamer _darling_ " I saw Rick's eyebrows leap up into his hairline as mine did the same, ' _what the hell, had they been that close…?'_ Kate however was unfazed as she replied.

"Depends on the reason and the person, _honeybuns_ " They smiled happily at each other before Rick spoke up, his voice tentative.

"Uh…Beckett?" Kate just looked at him then me before bursting into raucous laughter, something Liv happily joined in on, before they finally subsided enough for Kate to speak, glancing at me then back to Rick as she did.

"Relax, both of you, we're referring to a drag queen we busted for soliciting a couple of times, the first time we grabbed him he screamed like a porn star on overtime, when we teased him about it, that's what he said" Liv nodded.

"Yeah, every time we arrested him from then on we kept teasing him about being a screamer and he kept giving us the same reply" Kate chuckled.

"Well that and…" Her voiced had turned all breathless in mimicry. "A girl's gotta make a living doncha know" She smiled as her voice returned to normal. "Have to say though, he had the tightest ass and the best legs I've ever seen, your friend Lila would be jealous, plus he could run faster than anyone I ever saw in heels" As Liv nodded in agreement Rick looked at her in surprise.

"This from the undefeated holder of the record for the 100 metre perp-catching dash in four inch heels, really?" Kate was dismissive.

"I can run in boot heels Castle, but he could out-sprint me while wearing five inch stilettoes" She shrugged. "He had killer legs and bomb moves, could probably out strut your supermodel girlfriend too" Castle nodded slowly as Liv's voice came to me.

"I'm still having a hard time imagining you and Lila" At her words I tilted my head to look at her, even as she hurried on to amend what she'd said. "Not you and her, hell, you're gorgeous and I can see you together, but that you wanted me when you could have had her" I smiled as I shook my head, happy to set Liv straight.

"Like I said, Lila wasn't interested in settling down and I was hung up on this female cop I couldn't have" Feeling the need to reassure her I leaned over and gave her a long slow kiss, losing myself for a moment as I recalled exactly why I'd choose Olivia over Lila anytime... As our tongues tangled I couldn't help a little moan of sheer pleasure, hopefully not loud enough for the others to hear. Finally we broke away, noting that both Rick and Kate had wide smiles on their faces; they'd heard us, again, oh well. I smiled and finished answering her. "Good things come to those who wait" Kate and Rick smiled at us for a moment longer before Kate turned to Rick, her voice low and teasing.

"So Castle, still got a taste for Brazilian?" He gave a quiet chuckle.

"You mean besides the wax, I do appreciate that on a woman..." Kate swatted him gently before he continued. "I don't need a Latin supermodel to make me happy, I have a home grown one right here" He reached out and took her hand, lifting it to his lips, placing a soft kiss to the back of her hand, getting the patented Beckett eye-roll in return, though we didn't miss the soft look in her eyes before Kate smiled slyly and spoke, her voice teasing.

"Sure, that's what you say now…" Rick shrugged, obviously unconcerned by her gentle insinuation as he replied.

"Last time I saw her, a couple of month's back, we chatted for a bit, but that was all" Kate looked across at him, one eyebrow rising in surprise as she spoke.

"You've seen her, recently?" Rick nodded off-handedly.

"Yeah, one of those charity things you couldn't come to because of work; Lila knew I was seeing you; it was after the papers broke the news. Her comment was if you made me happy then she was happy. She also noted that my taste in women had improved" Kate gave him a gentle elbow to the ribs.

"Can't argue with that" Rick barked out a laugh before continuing.

"She also said if the three of us ever wanted to have some 'fun' together" He put it in air quotes, making the inference quite plain. "…we should give her a call" Kate's jaw dropped; before she pulled it shut and shot him a hard look.

"And…" Rick shrugged, obviously amused by a jealous Beckett.

"I told her that given my gorgeous but somewhat jealous girlfriend carries a gun, that mightn't be the wisest move" I nodded; I couldn't help the grin that broke out as I spoke up, looking Liv right in the eye.

"Smart move, if she'd asked me I'd have told her the same"


	4. Chapter 4

**Hampton's Hiatus**

 **04 Saturday afternoon**

Alex's viewpoint

After a comfortably casual lunch and more happy conversation we'd headed on our way, Rick was planning another great meal tonight and needed some fresh ingredients so we needed to hit the farmer's market on the way home but got happily sidetracked on the way, we spent some time window shopping until Kate and I spotted some gorgeous cashmere sweaters and headed inside, leaving Rick and Liv standing outside enjoying the sunshine. The knit-wear shop's old-style windows were cracked open enough to let a gentle breeze pass though; it also let me hear what they were saying as I quietly eavesdropped while sorting through clothes on their shelves.

Rick was speaking; it was his voice that had caught my attention in the first place.

"There's much to be said for this part of the lifestyle up here, the sun, the easy-going pace, well not during the holidays but the rest of the year's not too bad" Liv's voice floated through clearly as well.

"Yeah, it's a really nice change from the city, thanks for inviting us up here" The smile in Rick's voice was easily heard as he replied.

"Hey, it's been our pleasure, Kate's been looking forward to having you up, ever since you guys reconnected she's wanted to do this, she really loves it up here" I smiled, we'd both been looking forward to this as well, getting away from work was always good. It's why we hung out for the chance to catch up with Jane and Maura and the others in LA when we could but Liv had been excited as anything to spend some serious time with Kate, plus Rick was a good guy, we both liked him and it was obvious that he doted on Kate. I was still thinking about that as Liv spoke.

"I can see why, she fits in, Alex too, they look like locals. It's not really my scene" I could hear the curiosity in Rick's voice.

"Oh, why not?" I tilted my head and moved closer to better hear Liv's response.

"I don't really fit here, into this life. I'm a cop, the Hampton's not really where I'm comfortable, I don't really belong here" There was a pause as I felt my conscience pull at me, the desire to step outside and just hug and kiss Liv, to tell her that she belonged with me, anywhere I was, that I wasn't complete without her by my side, before I could move though Rick spoke, a little quieter.

"I understand where you're coming from Liv; I'm only here because of my luck. I grew up Richard Rogers, a not particularly well off kid. It's only because I got lucky and found I could string words together that I got to where I am" There was another pause; I could imagine them sharing a look as I moved closer, tilting my head and pushing my hair behind my ear as I strained to hear them.

"Alex, you ok?" I looked round to see Kate looking over at me; before she could speak again I quickly held my finger to my lips, seeing her expression change, her curiosity visible as she strolled over as Rick spoke again, fortunately he hadn't heard her as he carried on.

"I'm not really part of this life either, not like the Kennedy's or the Rockefeller's or the Vanderbilt's…"

"Or the Cabot's" At Liv's comment I stood very silent, seeing Kate come to stand alongside me, she'd heard them, our eyes meeting in a glance as Rick continued, his voice quiet but heard easily enough from where we standing.

"Yeah, them too, I don't really fit in, for most of them I'm crass 'new money', all vulgar celebrity, good as an amusing accessory at a garden party but not really part of this life" I could see Kate's eyes widen then narrow as her mouth thinned to an angry line, quite obviously she hadn't heard Rick talking like this before as he continued on. "I'm tolerated up here because of my celebrity and money; I make a nice, humorous addition to their dinner parties and the like here, their court jester if you will, good for a joke or a story to amuse the important guests" He paused for a moment then pushed on. "Plus I normally used to have some highly decorative arm candy bimbo to provide some additional tawdry glamour to their events" Liv's statement was quiet but clear.

"And now you have Kate" I could easily hear the smile in Rick's reply.

"And now I have Kate, who's as decorative an arm candy as anyone could possibly ask for, but she doesn't count, she's way too smart for this, plus she's no one's bimbo" I could easily hear the agreement in Liv's voice.

"You're not wrong there" I exchanged a glance with Kate, both of us standing there listening intently as Rick continued.

"Besides, Kate doesn't suffer fools gladly, which takes in a lot of the society people up here" I smirked a little, he was right, while Kate's mouth quirked up at the corner at that comment, even as I could imagine Liv nodding as she spoke.

"Kate can blend in pretty much anywhere really, with her looks she'd fit in fine" I could hear the smile in Rick's voice as he replied.

"Alex's the same, arm candy looks, but she's so much more that that, they both are" There was quiet for a moment as I looked across to see Kate's tawny eyes meet mine as Liv replied, her voice carried a hint of something, pride maybe, for her friend and former partner.

"True" There was silence for a few seconds, I could almost see her staring off into the distance, the way she often does when she's thinking hard. Kate and I exchanged another glance and I opened my mouth to say something when Liv spoke again. "On the other hand I don't, I'm a blue collar cop from New York, this isn't my place" I frowned, Liv's sense of self worth wasn't good at the best of times, here, surrounded by the trappings of the wealthy society, the so-called one-percenters, it must be hard for her, no matter how often I tell her she's worth more to me than any amount of money she still lets it eat at her, that she couldn't bring money to our relationship, the disparity in our financial circumstances. I tell her time and again that I'm far richer now than I ever have been because I'm happy and in love, somehow she never really believes it. Rick's response was clear and confident.

"I wouldn't go that far, a change of clothes, a bit more trust in yourself and your relationship with Alex, put on a bit of an attitude and no one would think you weren't born to this life" We could all hear the doubt in Liv's voice, clear as crystal.

"You're joking?"

"Nope...not at all, you see Liv, I wear a mask; Rick Castle, millionaire playboy author, it's what the public sees, what I want them to see. I hide the real me, only Kate gets to see that person, everyone else gets to see the façade I put up to keep my private life private" Her reply was soft.

"That includes us?" Rick chuckled for a moment then spoke, the humour apparent in his voice.

"Hell no, you're family, you're like Kate's big sister, that makes you and Alex family to me" He paused then went on, a little quieter. "Kate's told me a few stories, how you kept her alive on the streets, looked out for her" There was a short pause; I could imagine Rick turning his head to look Liv straight in the eye before he continued. "Thank you"

I glanced across at Kate in surprise, Liv hadn't said much; just that they'd been really close as partners, but she'd avoided the details. Kate just nodded slowly in agreement as we exchanged a look before she spoke softly.

"Hey, it was the same for me, we looked out for each other for three years, I love her, you've got no idea how happy I am that you two got together, I can see she's happy, truly happy for the first time in a really long time" I smiled, though Rick's voice stopped me from replying, I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Besides, can't you tell, I have a weak spot for gorgeous detectives" That got him a low chuckle from Liv.

"Oh is that it, so that's why you invited us back to the Old Haunt that night? It was all about Jane and Ana and Kate?" The smile in Rick's voice was easily heard.

"Yeah, sure, but it was all about you too" Liv's reply was a scoff.

"Sure it was" Kate and I exchanged a glance as the quiet dragged on, Kate went to say something when Rick spoke once more.

"I'd actually heard about you, you know, from Kate, before we met at the Ball. She'd told me she had a training instructor named Mike Royce, he'd taught her about being a cop, about being a good cop" Kate nodded slowly as Rick continued. "She also told me about her first real partner out on the beat, another female cop, how some of the other cops laughed about two women walking the beat and how you'd never get any respect on the street" Liv's voice was reflective as she replied.

"I remember; assholes the lot of them. All it did was make us more determined than ever to prove every last one of them wrong" Rick's voice easily carried his amusement and something more, pride.

"As I've learned, the quickest way to piss Beckett off is to tell her there's something she can't do. Sounds like you're a pair" Liv's response was quick and decisive.

"Yep, we ended up with the best CrimStat reporting stats in the entire 27th precinct, pissed a lot of those self-same assholes off no end I can tell you" Rick's voice was quiet, I could imagine him nodding before he spoke, a smile in his voice.

"Y'know, when I started getting interested in Beckett, back when I first started shadowing her as inspiration for Nikki Heat, Commissioner Reagan told me about Beckett, that back pounding the beat she'd been part of a female team that locals called the Dynamic Duo, but instead of Batman and Robin, it was Supergirl and Wonder Woman" Liv's laugh was quick and light as I looked to Kate who shrugged then spoke softly.

"It was a dumb nickname" I was about to reply when Liv's voice came through the window.

"Oh yeah, I remember, it was kind of a joke, one of the shop owners on the beat told his young daughter that if she studied hard and was a good girl she could grow up to be anything, even a police officer" Liv paused, then continued, a smile easily heard in her voice. "The girl said she wanted to grow up to be a superhero like Wonder Woman so Kate told her she could be both, after all every superhero needed a secret identity" Rick's voice broke in; I could hear his barely-contained glee.

"You've got to be kidding me, Kate said that?" Liv's reply was equally gleeful.

"Yep, somehow the story got out and twisted around a bit, so that's how we became Wonder Woman and Supergirl" I could imagine Rick rubbing his hands together in anticipation as he spoke, full of enthusiasm.

"I could so see Kate as Supergirl" I knew he was right, Kate had the looks and the physique, she'd own the look; Kate though groaned softly beside me and then spoke quietly.

"Rick loves costumes, Halloween is practically his favorite day of the year, so I'm damned sure I know what he's going to suggest this year" She glanced at me. "At least Liv makes a good Wonder Woman" I shrugged.

"Hair's a bit short for Diana of Themiscera" I saw Kate's eyes widen as I spoke, making me smile, I'd read Wonder Woman as a kid, she was THE female hero for me growing up. "I don't mind though, besides Liv's already decided which superhero I am" At Kate's sudden and very apparent interest I shrugged. "Black Canary from Arrow, blonde ADA by day and black leather-clad superhero by night" Kate grinned.

"You in leather, I bet Liv'd love that" Her grin widened. "Almost as much as you want to see her in leather" I felt my cheeks warm, obviously my interest during last night's discussion hadn't been missed. I went to say something when I was interrupted by Rick's voice as he spoke up.

"Anyway, the thing is that Frank Reagan told me that both of those female beat cops had been identified early for big things and look how that panned out" Liv spoke quietly.

"Yeah, Kate's reputation is sky high, the 12ths Homicide division has one of the highest case closure rates of any squad anywhere in the NYPD" I raised an eyebrow at Kate; she shrugged and smiled, a little bashfully, as Rick replied.

"Then there's you, one of the NYPDs most decorated female officers, the SVU closure rate at the 16th is very high, particularly given the nature of the crimes you deal with" Liv was quick to deflect his praise.

"We have some really good people" She paused then went on. "Plus we have two really good ADAs, we catch em, they convict them"

"Sounds like you're a good team" Liv's reply was certain despite her words.

"I like to think so" Rick's voice was quiet but sure.

"You're good together Olivia, everyone can see that" Liv was quick to reply.

"Lots of people don't approve of us, plus they've made sure we know it" I glanced at Kate to see her head tipped to one side, listening as her eyes rested on me. Rick was quiet for a moment and then spoke.

"So some people don't like it, tough, plenty of others do. Gossip is rife up here and honestly, I've heard enough about Alex through people here, about your influence" Liv's voice carried a hint of resignation.

"Nothing good I'm sure" Rick's voice was dismissive.

"As you'd expect, there's the usual nose in the air types who tut tut about Alex not comporting herself like a Cabot, disgracing the family name, that sort of stupidity" I felt my jaw clench in anger at his words and saw Kate shake her head but before I could say anything Liv replied.

"Probably friends of Alex's parents, they don't approve of me" There was a trace of humour in Rick's voice.

"It's their perfect little princess; do you think anyone would be good enough for their tastes?" Liv's replied carried a hint of dark humour in her tone.

"Probably not"

"Yeah, no one would be good enough, certainly not a New York cop, a female New York cop" There was a pause before Rick continued. "It's not you Liv, it could just have easily been someone like Kate, do you really see the Cabot clan welcoming Kate into the family, knowing that she was going to be fucking their perfect heir-making machine, but producing no babies" I looked over at Kate at that crude but accurate summation, Liv's voice was thoughtful as she replied, even as I saw Kate with an equally thoughtful look on her face, waiting on Liv's reply, when it came it carried a considering tone.

"When you put it like that, no, probably not" There was definite humour in Rick's voice, I could imagine him grinning at her as he spoke.

"Exactly, no one would be. Hell Maura Isles is from the same stratum of society as most of these pretentious types, well except for being a much nicer person than they ever will, and the Hampton's set would still look down their noses at her and Alex if they'd ended up together" I frowned at that, he was probably right, far too many people with old money and old prejudices lived up here, looking up I saw Kate nodding slowly, she obviously was thinking the same thing. Rick meanwhile was continuing on.

"Anyway then there are the people who are supportive for all the wrong reasons, y'know the type..." Rick's voice changed, taking on the airs of the old-style society types that still infested the Hampton's. " _Isn't Alexandra so very brave, coming out as a lesbian..._ ' or; _'won't it look good with the media and the gay community..._ ' or _'Oh no darling, young Alex is only doing it to get votes from the gay community_ " He dropped the affected accent and continued. "People like them don't have a clue, to them it's all about appearances, being seen to do the right thing, whatever they deem to be the right thing that is" Liv's reply was pensive, you could hear it in her tone as well as her words.

"It's funny, that some people think that being gay is some sort of stunt to get support from the community but I know a lot of people aren't ready for a lesbian District Attorney; it was something I was really worried about when we got together. It's one of the reasons I insisted that we keep it quiet at work" I exchanged a glance with Kate, seeing the thoughtful look on her face, even as Rick pressed on.

"Most people, at the end of the day, vote for character and everything I've seen and heard about Alex says she's got it in spades. Kate told me she wished Alex were her prosecutor, we could have used her on some of our cases" There was a pause as I turned to look at Kate, surprised, before Rick spoke again. "Not everyone's as committed as she is" Kate shrugged, a little sheepishly then spoke softly.

"We've had a few cases plea bargained out because the prosecutor wanted to tie it up quickly rather than push to get a conviction in court" She smiled. "Connie Rubirosa, who pushed a few of our difficult cases through to convictions, she told me there were a few really good prosecutors I should try and get but two of them were tied to SVU, you and a woman named Novak" I nodded, but before I could say anything Rick's voice came through the window.

"The thing is though, not everyone thinks like those people, I've met a few people, cops mostly, since you and Alex came out who've told me how you've never seemed happier. Same goes for some of the people up here who know Alex, they say she's never been happier and it shows. They were happy that you're both happy because they know and care for you, they're the people who matter, not the others" His voice changed. "The others, well they can all go to hell" Liv's voice was soft but certain; I could almost imagine them fist-bumping.

"Amen" I looked up into Kate's hazel eyes to see the smile she wore reflected there as she spoke softly.

"Amen"


	5. Chapter 5

**Hampton's Hiatus**

 **05 Saturday** **Dinner**

Liv's viewpoint

The day had been great, Kate and Alex had spent an enjoyable few hours shopping, emerging from several with bags on their arms and joining us as we strolled down the streets before another shop would catch their eye. They'd pass the bags over to us with a kiss before disappearing inside, leaving us time to kill, not that I minded.

Rick had turned out to be great company, we'd discussed everything from sports to cars and bikes, from travel to strange cases that might make good fodder for his books, he had a way of making you open up without ever seeming like he was prying. The hours had flown as we'd compared notes and I'd discovered that he'd spent a lot of time doing research for his earlier books like the Derek Storm spy books, back before he'd met Kate and she'd become his muse for the Nikki Heat books.

For research he'd spoken to current and former spies from the CIA, MI6 and the KGB, slogged through the mud with the Marines, skydived with the Rangers, swum from submarines with the Navy's SEALS, flown with the Top Gun school, ridden in tanks with the Army, sailed with the Coast Guard and shot almost every weapon in the US Military's inventory, from pistols to artillery, all of which made for some amazing anecdotes. Many of them were both funny and a little personally embarrassing but he'd happily related them all, he had a story-tellers gift, he could draw you in and get you lost in his story, he'd done it for millions of people in his books and here I was getting it personally delivered, it was a hell of an afternoon.

In return I passed on a few stories about some of SVU's more interesting cases; Rick was really interested in the clues that broke cases open and the psychology of the people we went up against, he freely admitted that the criminal mind fascinated him, trying to understand the mind of someone so different from society's norm's was a perplexing challenge, something that his time working with Kate had only made more interesting.

The stories had been interrupted at one point as we'd both been dragged into a store that sold jackets, they had a selection of tailored leather jackets and before we knew it both Rick and I were trying on a range of styles. It had taken a while but we'd ended up with a new jacket each, I don't think it was a coincidence that mine was in a biker's cut, Alex had made it very plain talking in bed last night that she wanted to see me in biker's leathers and boots sooner rather than later and wasn't taking no for an answer. Given the enthusiasm she'd shown for the idea I wasn't going all that opposed to the idea, especially given she'd promised that she'd wear leather too so she'd look good behind me on a bike, something I have to say was a real turn on, Alex in anything was nice, in tight black leather and high heeled boots…

Finally the afternoon had wound down, Kate and Alex had emerged from the last shop, both laden with shoe-box sized bags, I teased her a little about yet another set of horribly expensive heels but honestly Alex has excellent taste in clothes and accessories and she always looks good so who was I to question her, plus it was her money after all. We'd briefly considered heading into a small café for another coffee but Kate's suggestion of coffee at home had been taken up with enthusiasm, curling up in front of their fireplace sounded excellent so we'd hit up the farmers market for tonight's ingredients then made our way back to their place.

Three hours later I was perched on a stool on the far side of the kitchen bench from where Rick was cooking, Kate on my left and Alex on my right as we sipped some quality red wine and chatted as we watched Rick making dinner. This time it was Chicken Marengo, the traditional Napoleonic-era recipe with crayfish and egg and the aroma's wafting from the stove were irresistibly mouth-watering.

Our conversation had wandered across a lot of territory; the topic right now was prosecutors; we were listening as Kate explained her take on them.

"We've never had a dedicated prosecutor assigned to homicide, usually it's been whoever's in the rotation; some have been good, some…" She pulled a face. "Let's say we've had some bad ones too" Alex looked up from where she was half-turned on the stool and spoke past me to Kate, completely understandable professional curiosity in her voice.

"Oh, any particularly bad ones come to mind?" Kate shrugged dismissively.

"We lost an open and shut case because the prosecutor turned up intoxicated, you could smell it on her breath and she was off her game something fierce, I called her out on it after she summed up and she couldn't really deny it" Kate shook her head, mouth turned down in disgust, something her tone conveyed. "I was all for getting her blood-tested but I couldn't swing that so I complained to my Captain and through him up the line, Mine wasn't the only complaint that made its way to the DA's office so fortunately she was pulled and we never had to work with her again" Alex and I exchanged a look before Alex spoke.

"Who was it?" Kate frowned for a moment, obviously dredging the info up then replied.

"A woman named Paxton, Sandra Paxton I think" She shrugged. "It was years ago" I felt the blood draining from my face, seeing the same in Alex's face as her eyes widened before she clarified the name, her voice low and quiet.

"Sonya Paxton?" Kate nodded in quick agreement.

"That's her" She spread her hands in a 'don't know' gesture. "I'm not sure where she ended up after that" I turned to look at Kate and swallowed through a suddenly dry throat then spoke.

"She ended up prosecuting for SVU, she worked our cases for over a year, but eventually the same thing happened, turned up to court intoxicated, the judge declared a mistrial…" I shrugged. "Not a surprise really, we were able to get a blood test on the judge's orders, turned out she had a point 082 blood count" Alex nodded and took up the story.

"She was suspended and made to undertake mandatory alcohol addiction counselling, she was eventually cleared to return to prosecutions, not to SVU thank god, but she was never the same" She nodded at me. "She also told me that I couldn't trust Liv here, that she was only ever loyal to her then-partner Elliot Stabler" I felt a shiver of surprise at her statement run through me; while I was processing that comment Rick spoke up from where he was leaning against the bench next to the stove, a dish towel thrown over one shoulder, his voice thick with sarcasm.

"Obviously she was right" I raised one eyebrow at Alex in question, she'd never told me about that before then asked.

"Really, Sonya said that?" Alex smiled at me and laid her hand on my arm as she replied.

"I didn't believe a word of it, she was just bitter, she really hated Stabler" Alex looked past me to Kate. "He was Liv's former partner. Unfortunately Sonya got involved in a case involving a friend of hers and a stalker, it didn't end well" Kate's voice was curious.

"What happened?" Alex glanced at me and I nodded gently, getting one in return before I turned to look at Kate, explaining what had happened.

"The stalker, well he turned out be a serial killer. He'd killed the friend's sister years before and gotten away with it, Sonya started investigating on her own time and attracted his attention" I shrugged, a little uneasily as I remembered the case. "He tracked her down and killed her" Both Kate and Rick gasps were easily heard before Kate grimaced and spoke up quickly.

"Oh god, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories" I waved her apology away, it was years ago now so I could talk about it with a bit of distance.

"It's okay Kate, it was years ago; anyway Sonya managed to bite her attacker during the attack and the resulting forensic evidence allowed us to track down her killer, so we were not only able to arrest him for Sonya's death, but we were able to tie him to a string of other murders over several decades" Alex's voice finally broke the ensuing long silence.

"I knew she was on thin ice before that, the DA's office was close to firing her for her behaviour, her reputation was getting worse" Alex's voice strengthened. "In the end though she managed to get justice and closure for a lot of people, I suppose that was the best anyone could hope for under the circumstances" Kate nodded and we were silent for a moment before Kate lifted her glass in a toast.

"Sonya" I nodded and lifted mine too, seeing the others doing the same.

"Sonya"

It was quiet for a bit then the discussion picked up again, with Kate asking for a few DA's names that Alex would recommend as prosecutors for her cases, non-SVU ones. I shrugged and jumped in.

"Well, there's been a revolving door at SVU, not to mention a fair few of them ended up in Washington" Rick looked over, obviously interested.

"Oh?" Alex nodded in response then explained.

"Abbie Carmichael, back before my time, she did a rotation in SVU, one of Liv's first ADA's in fact, she was good, good enough that she was poached by the US Attorney's office, Liz Donnelly became a judge a few years after she was with SVU, then there was Kim Greylek who moved on to Justice; she saw SVU as just a tick in the box for her career. You know about Sonya of course, she was followed by Jo Marlowe who left after a hostage incident she was involved in, and Sherri West went to the dark side…"

"Dark side?" It was Rick interrupting; trust him to be all over the Star Wars reference; Alex rolling her eyes as I filled him in.

"Became a defence attorney" His mouth made an 'oh' and he nodded in understanding as Alex took up the thread again.

"Gillian Hardwicke left for a convention in Florida, got a job offer down there and never came back, we had Michael Cutter who was Bureau Chief, but he occasionally deigned to get his hands dirty prosecuting cases before stepping back and washing his hands of SVU cases, then we got David Hayden, who ended up resigning due to a scandal involving escorts" I could see Rick's eyebrows rise and Kate shake her head a little as Alex finished up. "…and finally Rafael Barba was with us for a bit but he eventually went to Washington, the DA's office up there hired him" She smiled and spread her hands in a 'what can you do' gesture. "As you can see, we've had a few over the years" Kate nodded slowly then turned to me.

"You should stop being so hard on your DA's" I chuckled a bit and played it off.

"Can't help it if not everyone can cut it" I smiled. "Alex and Casey are the best we've had"

"Casey?" It was Rick, Alex handled that one.

"Casey Novak, she shares SVUs caseload with me, she's good, really good" Alex nodded at me. "Casey also prosecutes the cases Liv handles, that way no one can claim any conflict of interest"

"Yeah, I wondered about that" It was Kate, glancing my way. "The NYPD rules and all" I shrugged as Alex replied.

"We've reported it to both our bosses and given neither of us reports to the other and I don't handle Liv's cases, we're okay" Kate frowned and shared a look with Rick then turned back to us.

"That's way too much like common sense, Rick and I had to keep it under wraps until it finally broke, our Captain's a real by-the-book type so we were concerned she'd stop us working together" I turned to her and asked the obvious question.

"Given how close you two work together how did you get that past the regs?" Kate quietly chuckled as Rick smiled and answered.

"I had my lawyers go over the NYPD regulations with a fine tooth comb, they discovered that as long as I don't draw a salary I'm not a police department employee and therefore the regs don't apply to me" He smiled a little wider. "That's why I pay for good quality legal advice, I wasn't going to let anyone or anything get in the way of me working with Kate" Alex nodded.

"I can understand that, I like working with Liv's team even if I can't work on her cases" She smiled. "There's a bit of that, it's the same with Maura and Jane" Rick looked over from where he was checking the pot and chimed in.

"Yeah, they work together right?" Alex and I nodded; we glanced at each other before I made an 'after you' gesture for her to answer which she did.

"Yes, Jane was a homicide detective in Boston, Maura was the Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth, worked a few floors down from the Homicide floor, that's how they met. They became friends and found themselves spending more and more time together outside work too" Alex smiled, a little wistfully then continued. "They hit it off, eventually they got together and are very happy together" I nodded and butted in.

"Unfortunately her boss was an ass hole about them being together, he couldn't stop them being involved as they didn't work together, Jane was employed by the Boston Police while Maura was the head of the Medical Examiner's office and appointed by the Governor, so he couldn't do anything officially. Unfortunately he made it known it was open slather for every homophobe to take their shots at Jane" Kate shook her head.

"That sucks, not to mention completely unprofessional" Rick nodded and spoke up, his voice questioning.

"What was his problem anyway? Massachusetts has always been very gay-friendly, they were one of the first states to legalise gay marriage" I shrugged.

"Jane found out not long before they left Boston that her bosses brother's wife had left him for a woman a couple of years before, taken the kids and moved to another part of the country where he couldn't see his nieces, he didn't take it well, so when Jane came out publically he saw it as salt in the wounds, he couldn't do anything about his ex-sister in law, but Jane, that he could" Kate's disgusted expression said it all, as did her reply.

"Idiot" Alex nodded as I spoke up.

"They really couldn't do too much about Maura, a few idiots tried but Jane dealt with them pretty harshly, after the first few examples, well everyone knew Maura was off limits, so her boss started giving Jane every shitty detail he could, basically made her life hell" Alex nodded and took up the conversation.

"Yes, he behaved abominably to her, trying to drive her out, so when Maura had the opportunity to take a secondment as the LAPDs Chief Medical Examiner, she asked if they could find a role for Jane" She smiled. "They could and the rest is history, they've done really well there and are now staying permanently" Rick nodded and spoke up.

"Yeah, it looks like LA's gain is Boston's loss, plus it seems like they've got good friends out there" Alex and I smiled in unison, they sure had, and they were now our friends too, as Alex explained.

"Yes, Jane's in a good team with Major Crimes, Maura's running a much larger medical examiners office and they're in a good place"

"What about your other friends, Ana and Natalie?" It was Kate. "Do they have issues working together?" I handled that one, shaking my head as I did.

"No, Nat's a LAPD employee and Ana's a Fed, as bureau liaison to the Department she and Natalie aren't in the same chain of command, so there's no issues there" Alex nodded and picked up the thread.

"Besides, neither of them is a shrinking violet and they're both out as a couple at work, so anyone who tries to give them a hard time is asking for a fight with both of them" I shrugged and pushed on. "The Chief of Police out there has both of him reporting to him, together with Maura, so he's not going to not support gay's in the department" They shared a look and nodded as Rick looked back and spoke.

"That's good, it's the 21st Century for god's sake, giving people trouble over who they love, no matter the gender, is Dark Age's mentality" I smiled.

"That's very progressive of you Rick" He shrugged, a slightly discomforted look on his face as Kate chuckled, before he explained.

"I don't have too much choice really. My daughter Alexis…" I nodded; we'd seen the images of the pretty red head in their loft and here too. "…she and the lead P.I. at Richard Castle Investigations, Hayley Shipton, are an item, so I had to man up when she and Hayley started dating" Alex let her eyebrow rise.

"That must have been hard?" He pulled a face then replied.

"You have no idea, it wasn't what I'd envisioned for her; I kinda imagined the boyfriend, the dating, the engagement, marriage and grandkids..." Kate interrupted with a smile.

"I think he's just pissed that he can't give Hayley the shovel speech" Her smile widened to a grin. "Hayley doesn't take crap from anyone, not even the boss and she's awfully protective of Alexis" Kate shrugged. "Given she's ex-Scotland Yard and ex-MI6, Rick was never going to come off more protective of Alexis than she is" Rick mock-scowled.

"That is so unfair; I've always wanted to give the shovel speech…"

"Yeah, wasn't going to happen" Kate smiled. "Hayley's English, gorgeous and won't take a backwards step to anyone, not even Rick" I looked between them both, thinking it through then spoke.

"So Alexis is involved with a female detective, a gorgeous female detective" I got a raised eyebrow from Kate and a nod from Rick, making me snigger. "Looks like you and your daughter both have a type Rick" Kate looked down for a moment as Rick chuckled.

"Yeah well, what can I say" He shrugged. "It took them long enough to tell me though" Alex frowned and spoke up.

"What, about Alexis and…Hayley did you say?" Rick nodded.

"Yeah, they kept me dangling for a while, Alexis kept giving me the run round and everyone else played dumb" Kate looked up and smiled wickedly.

"It was sending Rick crazy, not being able to find who Alexis was dating" She shrugged off-handedly. "I can't help it that he kept asking all of us about this guy Alexis was apparently seeing but we were all being completely honest, none of knew anything about any guy" I caught the mild scowl on Rick's face and chuckled.

"They were messing with you Rick" I winked at Kate and continued. "Did a good job of it too by the sound of it" Rick tried to play it off.

"I may have lost round one, but there will always be a round two" Alex and Kate did a nice synchronized rolling of eyes, they noticed and their smiles matched as well before Alex spoke up.

"Keep telling yourself that Rick" Kate nodded and jumped in.

"Whatever makes you feel good Castle" I decided to kick the can a little farther down the road.

"You, versus Kate, Martha, Alexis and Hayley, good luck with that" In the face of our united front plus the demands of dinner, Rick turned back to the stove and busied himself with cooking, absolutely not licking his wounded pride, not at all.

An hour later and I pushed myself back from the table.

"Oh my god, that was so good" Alex, who was a lot more careful about what she ate, leaned away from the table and patted her tummy and groaned, a little theatrically.

"It was good but I ate so much" She looked over at Kate and spoke. "It's going to take a lot of gym sessions to work off the pounds I'm putting on up here" She smiled. "How do you do it?" Kate shrugged.

"Lots and lots of running, plus other exercise, between meals like this and too much take out, I need all the exercise I can get" I nodded, Kate had always been a runner for as long as I'd known her, she had the long legs and the stamina for it. Unlike me, I hated running. Glancing at Rick I smiled and spoke.

"I have to say Kate, if this is the standard for meals you're getting you're a lucky woman" She glanced my way then looked at Rick out of the corner of her eye.

"I wouldn't go that far" Rick turned to look at her, eyebrows rising as Kate continued. "He has a thing for combining things that shouldn't ever be mixed" I smiled as Alex jumped in.

"Oh, do tell" Rick chimed in right after her.

"Yes detective, do tell, I don't recall too many complaints"

"One word Castle, smorelet" They exchanged a glance that spoke volumes, enough so I just had to ask.

"What the hell is a smore…let?" Kate barked out a laugh as Rick rather obviously busied himself on the other side of the bench cleaning up, leaving Kate to explain.

"Castle here decided that marshmallows, chocolate and…eggs could go together" She shook her head. "They went together about as well as you'd imagine" Alex was shaking her head.

"Sorry Rick, but that sounds disgusting" He glanced over his shoulder at us and shrugged.

"Don't knock it if you haven't tried it" Alex and I shared a glance and as one spoke.

"NO!"

Ignoring Rick's faux sulking we all pitched in to clean up and a short while later everything was wiped down, put away, put in the dishwasher or otherwise taken care of. I leaned forward, taking in the beach through the window; we'd not really got much chance to head down there so far; I could see the sand glowing faintly in the moonlight past the pool house. Kate wandered over and stood next to me, finally speaking.

"It's nice being this close to the beach" I nodded.

"Yeah, Alex's family has a place up here but it isn't on the beach, apparently they didn't want to be exposed to the winter gales" She nodded slowly.

"I've only been up here once during a winter storm, it wasn't all that bad but apparently the place took some damage from Sandy back in 2012, mind you we all got hammered by Sandy"

Her words transported me back to that time, I remembered the long shifts, on one of them I'd directed traffic off the island as Sandy approached, the first time I'd worked traffic since I'd been a beat cop. I frowned as I remembered Manhattan's eerily empty streets, the rain and wind and the massive damage to the city, some of which, mostly in the tunnels, still wasn't completely right.

"Yeah, I remember" Kate nodded and turned to me.

"Me too, I ended up on a detail searching the subway tunnels looking for drowning's" I grimaced, I hated rats and I remembered the rats fleeing the rising water in the tunnels and moving into the street, some of them were as big as cats, to be down in the tunnels with them, urgh. Before I could reply Rick wandered up and spoke.

"That's far too maudlin a topic for tonight" He followed our gaze out the window and smiled. "At least the weather's better" I nodded, last night's rain and storms had given way to a clear night, a three quarter moon and crystal clear skies.

"Yeah, this is much better weather" He smiled and slung an arm round Kate's shoulder and pulled her close. "Given it's a much nicer night how about we light the fire pit on the beach and toast some marshmallows for dessert?" I was about to agree when Alex spoke up from the other side of the bench.

"Absolutely no smorelets Rick, got it" He went to pout in protest but both Kate and I shook our heads.

"C'mon Kate, at least you…" She wasn't buying it.

"Nope Castle; I'm with them on this one"

Half an hour later we were out on the beach, the fire roaring in its pit as we roasted marshmallows over the fireplace. Alex snuggled up next to me, sharing an oversized blanket as I looked around; here with friends, snuggled up to Alex around a roaring fire on the beach, I have to say life didn't get better than this.

Alex looked up and then leaned in, giving me a quick kiss on the tip of my nose then pulling back before I could do the same, she then looked over at Rick and Kate.

"This is so good; I haven't roasted marshmallows like this in, well, I can't remember when I last did it, I must have been a kid" Kate snickered then nudged Rick as she replied.

"Well that kind of fits, Rick here's a big kid most of the time" He looked across to her and smiled happily.

"Only sometimes, other times I can be very adult" He leaned in and gave her a kiss as we watched them demonstrate just how in love they were, Alex snuggling a little closer as I laid a soft kiss to that mass of blonde silk under my chin. They broke it off after a few seconds and we sat there, it was quiet for a while, then Kate spoke.

"We really should do this again the next time your friends are in town, how often do they visit?" I shrugged with one shoulder as I replied; I didn't want to dislodge Alex under the other arm.

"We kind of alternate, usually they come here for a weekend once every two or so months; we visit them on the alternate month, work permitting" Alex nodded, her head moving under my chin.

"Sometimes they might be been busy with a major case and cant' get out, sometimes it might be us who can't, but we try and catch up as often as we can" Rick leaned forward and examined his marshmallow; obviously it wasn't yet done as he held it back out to the fire then spoke.

"It's important to stay in touch, it can't be easy, I mean them out there and you here" I smiled easily as I replied.

"If it's important…" Kate finished off one of our old sayings.

"…you make the time" We exchanged smiles across the fire before we fell into a comfortable silence once more, each couple snuggled together.

I looked up at the moon and smiled, our lives might be filled with the worst that people can do to their fellow man, murder in Kate and Rick's case and the horrors that SVU handles in ours, but days when we could catch up with Maura and Jane, Ana and Nat, they helped put everything into perspective. Being here with Kate and Rick, with Alex snuggled up close; this was just like that, a refuge from the job and its stresses.

I ducked my head and placed another kiss onto Alex's head, then smiled as she turned her head up and leaned up, seeking a kiss, one I happily supplied.

Life might have its share of pain and misery, but nights like this, they were perfect.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hampton's Hiatus**

 **06 Sunday Morning**

Kate's viewpoint

As Alex and I'd agreed last night we were up early and headed off, getting in a run along the beach, it's chilly but the sun's up and the run's keeping us warm. While I'd obviously had more recent experience at it than Alex neither of us was really used to beach running, something my legs were happy to remind me of. We'd been at it for a while, reaching the far end of the beach and starting back when, with a groan, Alex slowed the pace down.

"Sorry but I'm going to have to slow down a bit" She grimaced then continued. "I'm not used to running in sand, my calves are gonna be killing me tomorrow" I happily slowed to a walk alongside her.

"Get Liv to massage them, she's got good hands" At that comment I got a long, questioning look from Alex, drawing an explanation from me. "I wrenched a shoulder really badly chasing down a perp once. I didn't want the department knowing because it would end up on my record and I couldn't really afford a dedicated physio or massage therapist so Liv would spend an hour every day after work for two weeks working the muscles, loosening them up so I could function the following day"questioning

"Oh" I slowed our walking speed a bit more and looked across to where Alex was pacing me.

"Alex, I love Liv, I really do; like Rick said, she's like a big sister to me but that's all. There was never anything more between us. Besides, I'm straight and so was Liv, at least she was back then" Alex looked down, chewing on her lip as we walked, hands on her hips before looking back up at me, a chagrined expression on her face.

"I'm sorry, I'm not usually so insecure, it's just like there's this whole life with you that she never mentioned before we met at the Ball and even since then she's not said all that much" I just barked out a laugh at that then looked back at her, easily seeing the curiosity in her eyes as I explained.

"Hey, we're talking Olivia Benson here, getting her to open up takes dynamite" That got a laugh out of her as well, it was all too true, something she confirmed.

"You're not wrong there" I smiled; Liv had always been good at deflecting questions into her past. It'd taken years of working side by side on the beat, digging ourselves in and out of trouble before she'd started to open up to me. Mind you, I was hardly the one to talk, it'd taken me almost as long to open up about why I'd become a cop, the whole thing about my mom's murder.

Thinking about it, I knew that Liv wasn't intentionally keeping Alex in the dark, it was as obvious as the nose on my face that they cared for each other deeply so it wasn't any lack of trust on Liv's part, it was probably more to do with her unconsciously conforming to the habits of a lifetime, of keeping things to herself. I decided that it wouldn't hurt to try and explain things to Alex, giving her some context and maybe setting her mind at ease.

"You have to understand that when Liv was starting out as a cop, women were nowhere near as accepted as they are now" I shrugged as Alex nodded; all ears. "I had it tough, especially once I became a detective, but Liv had it much worse back then. You have to remember that the first female detectives didn't make it until '77 and there was a lot of resistance to them" I snorted in disgust. "When the first female patrol officers arrived in a lot of the male officers wouldn't patrol with them, claiming it wasn't safe, that women couldn't cut it" I pulled a face at the attitude, seeing Alex shake her head as well then pushed on. "That attitude persisted with a lot of the worst of the sexist cops right through to the '90s and beyond" Alex glanced my way then spoke, a little bitterly.

"Stupid, it's been decades and there are still cops out there who think a woman can't do the job" I nodded slowly, then replied.

"There's always going to be holdouts, Liv joined in the 90s, almost a decade before I did, so it was much worse back then than it was later" I glanced her way. "That was why I was glad to end up as her rookie, I got to learn from someone who'd been there and done that, plus she had my back with the sexist pigs in the force, well we watched each other's backs really" Alex glanced over at me and spoke.

"Was it that bad?" I shrugged as I answered.

"It could be, it's why Liv, and me too I guess, learned to separate our work and private lives, we didn't want to open up and let something slip that might be used against us, anything that might make us look weak, at least in the eyes of the male cops around us"

"I can understand that, what we see as compassion some people would call weakness" She wore a disgusted look on her face as she continued, looking over at me. "Did it get very bad?"

"There were a few cops who seemed to think that female officers couldn't cut it on the street and that we were there because we couldn't get a husband, that we were all badge-bunnies and were looking for one from amongst our work colleagues…" Alex's derisive snort showed what she thought of that idiocy, making me smile as I continued. "Of course, if we wouldn't sleep with the male cops we were automatically tagged as either frigid, man-hating bitches or lesbians, or usually both"

"So you and Liv both got hit with that?" I nodded then smiled.

"Only the first few times, after that we decided that we should put them in their place" She looked my way, interest easily seen in her eyes.

"Oh, how?"

"Liv, as the more senior, challenged the biggest of the 'women are useless on the beat' brigade to put up or shut up, she deliberately shamed him in front of his buddies to force him to face her in the boxing ring" Alex saw where that was going immediately.

"Uh oh" I grinned at her words and the memory before continuing.

"Yep, she beat him senseless, got pretty badly beaten up herself but you know Liv, she doesn't ever back down" Alex's voice was small.

"No, she doesn't, ever" I glanced her way and saw her looking down at the sand; obviously she was remembering the injuries Liv had taken for precisely that reason. Deciding to not let her dwell on it and draw her out of her head I continued on.

"So there she is, battered and bloody, despite the protective gear, but she'd just sent the guy to the canvas for the third time and he wasn't going to be getting up anytime soon. She pulled her head gear off and looks around all the silent cops watching then says ' _the next idiot who thinks with his dick that women can't be cops or handle themselves, ask this moron how well that worked out for him_ '. She then looked down at the guy and spoke up again. ' _As for him, he's not going to be doing any thinking with his dick, or much else besides with it for a real long time_ ' and then she punt kicked him right in the crotch, he must have lifted six inches into the air with the force of the kick" Alex looked over, concerned.

"Wouldn't that have been considered pretty dirty?" I shook my head.

"Her opponent had been sneaking in a lot of dirty punches, plus he'd driven a knee into Liv's groin at one point so she wasn't prepared to cut him any slack" Alex smiled, a little pride evident there.

"No, that'd be Liv, she doesn't back down" Alex glanced my way and her smile widened. "Not for anyone"

"Exactly" I smiled back at her. "After that, well the comments didn't completely stop but the worst of them weren't spoken where we could hear them" She nodded thoughtfully as she spoke.

"I suppose that was the best you could hope for" I looked her way and gave her a one shoulder shrug before replying.

"Pretty much, but it was a heck of a lot better than we had to deal with before" We set a comfortable pace for a minute or so, seeing the roof of the house come into view over the dunes, signaling our walk and talk's imminent end and prompting me to do a little digging to satisfy some of my own curiosity.

"So tell me, have you always wanted Liv?" She paused then stopped, turning to look out to sea; I could tell she wasn't really seeing the motor cruisers and yachts off in the distance; when she spoke her voice was soft and reflective.

"Pretty much; I've been gay pretty much all of my life, had the occasional man bag on my arm at events, mostly to keep my family off my back, but I'm into women, pretty much always have been" She glanced at me then back out across the waves. "So, when a certain gorgeous detective swaggered into my life, looking like that, with her personality and commitment to the job, you can bet I was interested" I nodded, Liv had always been committed to her job, something I recognised in myself, we both wanted to get justice for the victims. With a soft smile and a wave Alex started us moving again as I walked alongside, before asking a question that had been on my mind for a while.

"Did you know she was straight?" She couldn't hold in the easily-heard sigh.

"Yes I did, that made the whole thing much worse. We were friends, got very close over the years working together, but I never thought it'd be more than that but I wanted more, the stints I did in Witness Protection and in Africa just made it even clearer to me. Each time I came back I realised that she was the only one for me. I'd kinda resigned myself to friends and nothing more until one day changed everything" I nodded and kicked the conversation on a bit.

"What happened?" She turned her head to look at me.

"Like I said, we were trying on dresses and Maura noticed how Liv was reacting when I wasn't looking. She commented to me back in the dressing room as we got changed that we made a lovely couple. I told her we weren't and she was surprised given the ease we had together and the way she saw Liv looking at me when I wasn't looking" She shrugged gently, obviously remembering that particular revelation. "She was in the same boat with Jane, in love with her best friend and afraid to want more, afraid of messing up the best thing she'd ever had, just like me. When we became aware they both wanted us, well we helped each other screw up enough courage together to force the issue and now here we are" I nodded, they'd taken a big risk, but the rewards were even bigger.

"You make her happy Alex, I can see it" She smiled softly as she glanced at me from the corner of her eye as she replied.

"I sure try to, she deserves it" I looked down for a moment, then looked back up, asking a question I'd had for a while.

"It must have been hard, to want someone who was your friend?" She nodded slowly, then turned those piercing blue eyes on me.

"It was. Do you have a close girlfriend?" I frowned, a bit surprised by the sudden change in direction of the conversation.

"Yeah, our medical examiner, Lanie Parish" She smiled, a little lopsided and then spoke.

"Well imagine trying to tell her that you were in love with her and that you wanted to be together, as lovers. How do you think that'd go?" I nodded slowly, understanding where she was coming from.

"I take your point, never happen though. Lanie likes guys too much, so do I" Her smile grew a little teasing, as did her voice.

"Don't be too sure Kate; I'm sure the right girl could mount a persuasive argument to convince you to give them a try" My head swung round in surprise at her words.

"Me?" She smiled a little wickedly, her voice taking on a teasing lilt.

"Why not, you're beautiful, smart, confident, strong and successful, lots of girls would be drawn to that" I looked her way to see her shrug casually as she continued. "Hell, I'd be interested in you if we were both single, you're gorgeous and I love the whole kick-ass and dedicated sexy cop thing"

I smiled, a little stunned to be honest even as my mind drifted over the thought of Alex as my lover, she was beautiful and anyone would be priviliged to be with her. I'd never really met a woman who'd interested me enough to try something with though, Liv had been amazing but there had never been anything like sexual chemistry between us back then, lord knows we'd both been a little cock-crazy, something that had obviously changed in the years since. Alex was still speaking.

"Then there's the fact the whole cop thing would turn on a lot of women" I shook my head, trying to get the idea of Alex as a lover out of my head, it was an intriguing idea though then smiled.

"Alex Cabot, badge bunny, who'd have guessed" She grinned easily; she knew I was teasing, and replied.

"Well one badge in particular" I returned her smile then spoke.

"4015?" She smiled at Liv's badge number and nodded before I returned us to the topic. "Being a cop means we're usually workaholics, obsessed about our jobs, working stupid hours and running the risk of getting hurt or worse every day. Nah, I don't think so" She turned and looked over at me, her voice soft as she spoke.

"Natalie, Maura and I would disagree with you there. We've had this discussion; each of us couldn't see ourselves with anyone else. We all know the risks and the drawbacks, but as far as we're concerned, Ana, Jane and Liv are worth it" She smiled as she let her eyes drift appreciatively down over my body, then back up to meet my eyes. "Lots of women would think so with them, and you" I smiled and nodded, remembering her friends. Maura Isles was stunning and their friend Natalie Dearing was gorgeous, while their partners Jane Rizzoli and Ana Romanov were very different in looks but equally beautiful.

"Never really went down that particular rabbit hole, but thank you for the compliment" She shrugged, playing it off.

"Not really a compliment if it's true, but it's obvious that Rick's completely smitten with you" She smiled. "He's been linked over the years in the media with lots of beautiful women, Lila being a case in point, but he's obviously one hundred percent yours" I nodded agreeably as I replied.

"After all the bad things that's happened over the years, Rick's been like a breath of fresh air, he's made me laugh again, something I'd kinda forgot to do in the years between Liv and him"

"Well, that doesn't seem to be a problem now" I shook my head with a smile.

"Rick's been really good for me, made life worth living again"

"It looks like its pretty mutual, he obviously cares for you, deeply" I nodded, thinking back over all the times Rick had gone out on a limb for me over all the years.

"Yeah, sometimes too much" Alex looked over at me quickly, the question on her face matched by the question on her lips.

"I don't understand…"

"He's put his life on the line for me way too many times" I shook my head sadly. "He has a mother and daughter who dote on him; they'd be completely devastated if anything happened to him" Alex rubbed her hands together as she thought it over then spoke quietly.

"Perhaps, but he's with you by choice, he made that decision, and from what we've seen of you together, he'd be devastated if anything happened to you" She smiled a little softly. "He obviously thinks you're worth the risks" I grimaced, thinking over all the worries I'd had, still have sometimes. Maybe I could talk to Alex about it; I mean she was kinda in a similar situation.

""I know, I love him, but I wonder sometimes if he should tag along with me less, stay a little safer, he's had some close shaves over the years, maybe step back a little more" Alex stopped walking and turned to me, making me stop as well.

"I don't think that's your decision alone anymore Kate" She placed one hand on my shoulder. "You're a couple now, that's a decision for both of you, as much as you worry about him I'm sure he worries about you just as much" I shook my head a little.

"I'm a cop, putting it all on the line comes with the territory, he's not" Alex shook her head, then lifted her hand to push her hair away from her face, I'd not really noticed the wind had picked up a little, before she replied.

"He may not wear the uniform and carry the badge, but from everything I've heard this weekend and elsewhere, in every way that counts he's your partner"

"I worry, what if he gets shot, killed even, it's not his job"

"He's made it his job Kate, because that's part of being your partner" She grimaced then pushed on. "I wasn't expecting to get shot, that's not what I had planned when I went through law school, but life had other plans" Her hand dropped from mine and lifted to her left shoulder, where she'd been shot all those years ago. "It ended up coming with the territory" She shrugged a little. "I'm a lot more careful now" I grimaced.

"I wish Castle would be too, he puts himself at risk a bit too often for my liking"

"He thinks you're worth it Kate, its plain as day that he cares" She smiled then pressed on. "Remember I said earlier that Maura and Natalie and I agreed that Jane, Ana and Liv are worth all the worry and heartache that comes with loving a police officer" I nodded slowly and a little dubiously as she continued. "I'm sure Rick thinks you're worth everything too" I nodded once, with certainty this time.

"He is, that's for sure" We were silent for a bit before we set off for the last few hundred yards to the beach gate as the house loomed up in front of us, Alex's voice drew me from the comfortable silence we'd found ourselves in.

"It's obvious he cares for you, most of the time anyway" I played that back for a second as we crossed the lawn towards the house then looked at her.

"Most?" She shrugged, a teasing smile playing over her lips as she spoke.

"One word Kate…smorelet" Her smile turned to a grin. "That is not the act of a man who loves you"

Our happy laughter echoed across the lawn as we made our way back towards the house and the ones who loved us waiting inside.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hampton's Hiatus**

 **07 Sunday Breakfast**

Liv's viewpoint

I was standing in Rick's kitchen, leaning back against the bench while he pottered around. Kate and Alex had gone running, with their long legs and lean figures they were both runners, had been for as long as I'd known them both; unlike me, I preferred the structure of a gym, weights, a bag, the whole experience, so we'd sent them off with our blessing while we got breakfast ready. Well Rick did, I just stood round and watched.

Rick was making me a fresh coffee, the aroma of the freshly ground beans was heaven plus he sure knew his way around an espresso machine; it reminded me of standing in Natalie and Ana's kitchen back in Los Angeles after dinner with them, Jane and Maura, Ana making coffee's at the espresso machine as we laughed and chatted. This kitchen felt similar, it was a truck-load bigger but it had a homey feel, it wasn't designed to impress, it was designed to be the centre of the house, a place for people, not a showplace.

We'd had another good night last night, dinner had been good and the company afterwards had been fantastic, I'd forgotten how many good times Kate and I had had when we were partners, talking brought them all back. We'd looked out for each other, messed up together, dug ourselves out of those messes together and generally been there for each other. I felt a painful rush of guilt at the fact I hadn't been there when she needed me most. That thought was painful and I looked up at Rick, seeing him looking out towards the beach, keeping an eye for them returning from their run.

"Uh Rick, can we talk for a moment" He looked over the coffee machine at me and smiled, his smile slipping a little as he saw my serious expression.

"Yeah sure Liv, what's up?" I straightened up a little, levering myself off the bench to get a view out the window and glancing out to the beach, not seeing Alex and Kate, then looked over at him.

"When I got promoted off the street and into Vice and then later in SVU, I had to go undercover a lot, it turned out it was something I was good at" He nodded agreeably as I continued, he was obviously a little unsure where I was going with this. "I might be undercover for weeks and sometimes months at a time, so Kate and I kinda drifted apart a bit over the years, I often couldn't break cover and be there for her" He nodded again as I pushed on. "I heard about what happened with her shooting a week or so afterwards, but I was undercover again and couldn't get away" I frowned as I remembered the scumbags I was hanging round with cheering and talking shit about a cop being shot at another cop's funeral, I'd had to turn away before I lost it. "When I got out and back to New York I tried tracking her down but she was on leave and no one knew or would tell me where she was" He nodded slowly then spoke, equally slowly.

"Yeah, she was up in her family's cabin in the woods, far away from NYC" I nodded, turning looking out the window at the ocean as I spoke, still unhappy I'd not been there when she needed me.

"I'm glad you were with her" His voice was sad and low.

"Well, actually I wasn't" Surprised I turned to look at him, obviously he saw the look on my face as he continued on, anguish in his voice. "I rode with her in the bus, I watched Kate die in the ambulance, then she did it again on the table" I felt something cold clench round my heart as Rick grimaced in very real pain. "When she could she signed herself out of the hospital and vanished, didn't tell anyone where she was as she tried to deal with everything" I shook my head in exasperation; ' _Kate, you idiot!'_

"God that girl can be so stupid sometimes" I blew out an exasperated breath. "She needed to be with the people who loved her, she should have come to you" He rubbed his hand up the back of his head, further ruffling his bed head, he looked kinda sheepish and a little cute, as he replied.

"Well I was kinda one of the reasons she ran away" At my suddenly hard look he pressed on. "After she'd been shot I was holding her, everyone was calling for an ambulance and paramedics, but I saw her fading and was terrified I'd lose her without her knowing so I told her I loved her" He looked away for a moment as I digested what he was saying, before he looked back at me, his eyes a little haunted as he spoke. "First time I had cause she was seeing someone else at the time, but if she didn't make it, I wanted her to know, to be sure how much she meant to me" He kinda half-shrugged then continued. "Anyway she did make it of course, but couldn't deal with that on top of everything else so she ran, went and hid in solitude" He shrugged. "I always had the worst timing with her" I spoke quickly, needing him to understand.

"No, that's Kate, she's always run from her emotions" I looked at him and shook my head slowly. "She's always been like that, after her mother died, she lost it, got lost in the pain and the loss, did so for months her dad told me. When she finally came out of it she walked away from her previous life, she was going to be a lawyer, a prosecutor"

"She'd have been a good one" He interrupted. I nodded; he was right then pressed on.

"She ran from love, in part because she lost those she did love, her mother in that alley and her dad into a bottle for many years" I grimaced, Kate's relationship with her mother had been something far removed from the one I had with mine and her father, once he'd climbed out of the hellish existence he'd fallen into after his wife had been murdered, had been a great guy. Rick nodded.

"Yeah, I see that now, but back then, not quite so clearly" He pulled a face for a second then continued. "I think everything had overwhelmed her, her ability to cope. She'd finally started to get somewhere investigating her mother's murder after so many years, then in short order her captain and mentor is killed, she gets shot and almost dies and I go and drop that on her on top of it" I nodded.

"I know that cabin, it's in the middle of nowhere" I pulled a face. "I should have figured she'd hole up there, I can understand her hiding out there though, if nothing else it's a quiet place to think" Rick looked over at me.

"You've been there?" I nodded.

"Yeah, Kate and I would ride up there every couple of months for a quiet weekend, sit on the porch, look out over the lake and discuss the problems of the world over a few beers" I smiled gently in remembrance. "It was a nice change from New York, peaceful and quiet" We were silent for a bit, I could see he was lost in thought for a moment, before he came back to us.

"Never been up there, she hasn't either since she came back, I think it's got some negative connotations for Kate now" I nodded, that would be understandable.

"Makes sense, from what I understand Kate was hurting and needed time to process everything that had happened" He gave me a one shoulder shrug.

"I think that me dumping all that on her, on top of all the other crap that happened, was overwhelming, she needed to get away from everything, especially me, to process it"

"Most things don't get to her, not that she'll show anyway, but when they do, she pulls back inside herself while she tries to process them" At that Rick looked at me, his eyes suddenly focussed on me, I could see the wheels turning inside his head for a moment before he spoke.

"Exactly how close were you two, I mean really?" I brushed it off.

"We were partners, walked the beat for almost three years together. You get close doing that" It was obvious he didn't believe it for a second, something his words confirmed.

"Sorry Liv, but I know partners who've been together for a decade and they aren't as close as you two, let alone when it involves someone as reserved as Beckett" He tilted his head to regard me. "It took me years as her partner, nearly dying repeatedly and eventually becoming more than just partners to get to the same place you two were back in the day, there's more to the story than that" I looked down at my feet for a moment as I thought about brushing it off but this was Rick, he'd been good for Kate, like he said they'd almost died for each other time and time again, he was the one making her happy, he deserved the truth. I looked up to see him waiting, he'd obviously seen that I was thinking and left me to come to my own decision. That made up my mind and I started explaining.

"We were like sisters Rick, we were there for each other, I helped her deal with her mom's death and her dad's drinking…" I grimaced. "I'd had some experiences of my own with that" I shook my head; Serena Benson was gone and there was no need to rake up old memories, so I continued on. "She helped me though some emotional trauma I was dealing with, helped me move past it to the point that I could deal with it, I did the same for her" I took a deep breath, then let it out slowly before I pressed on. "Plus she saved my life one night, I got stabbed breaking up a street brawl, the knife went in between my ribs and punctured a lung; Kate stabilised me and kept me alive long enough for the paramedics to arrive" I shrugged at Rick's concerned expression and pushed on.

"Then, once I was stable in hospital, she went out and tracked down the street gang responsible, walked into the bar they were hanging out in and called out the punk who'd done it in front of his pals, made him out to be a coward for not being willing to face her one on one" Rick looked both appalled and proud.

"That sounds like her" I nodded.

"It was, she got him to try and take her, he had a knife and she had her baton, by the time it was over she had a few cuts but he was a mass of broken bones" Then she looked round and told everyone watching that this was payback, you hurt us, we hurt you, stared the rest of them down then dragged the guy out of there by his collar and handed him over to the uniforms waiting outside, told them to charge him with attempted homicide, assault on an officer and resisting arrest" I shook my head, that was so Kate, never one to back down no matter the odds. "I heard about it after I was discharged, some from other officers; some from street chatter" Rick nodded as he spoke.

"She saved your life then went out and got the guy responsible" I nodded.

"That's Kate, loyal and tenacious to a fault" He looked at me for a moment then spoke.

"Kate told me you'd saved her life too, what happened?" " I tried to wave it away; it hadn't been anything like what she'd done for me.

"She's being overly dramatic, it wasn't that big of a deal" He shook his head.

"This is Kate Beckett we're talking about Liv, she's practically the dictionary definition of understatement" He smiled then continued. "What happened?" I frowned then started speaking.

"We were at a bar, we'd kinda got separated a bit, we'd both started chatting with guys we'd met that night, the guy I was talking to was being very charming" I glanced his way. "He wanted into my pants so he was being very, very nice, I kinda got distracted for a while but when I looked round I saw Kate wasn't there, which isn't like her, she'd always tell me if she was heading out, same as I'd tell her, I started to get a bad feeling so I went looking, ended up kicking in the door to the men's room to find the guy she'd been chatting to and two of his friends stripping her, they'd roofied her drink and were going to 'have some fun' as they put it" I scowled at the memory, seeing a barely-conscious Kate half-naked on the floor and one of the guys with his pants off already.

"Oh Jesus" It was Rick, his expression appalled. "Thank god you were there" I shrugged.

"They'd obviously just found her badge because one of them had it in his hand, god knows what they were going to do once they knew it was a cop they were going to rape, maybe bolt, maybe keep going, I don't know…" I shook my head at the memory as I kept going. "When I sprung them there they tried to lay out some bull shit story about how Kate 'wanted it…" I rolled my eyes at their stupidity, seeing Rick's face tighten at that. "One was stupid enough to invite me to have some fun with them" I shook my head. "Fortunately I was carrying my back-up Sauer P228 in a concealed holster; I grabbed it, got them all face down on the floor then grabbed a staff member and called for backup. They weren't so macho facing a woman with a gun in her hand" I shrugged again. "With the help of a waitress I got Kate dressed again before the responding officers got there then got Kate seen to by the paramedics" Rick shook his head slowly as he spoke.

"My god, if you hadn't been there… thank you Liv" I played it off, compared to what Kate had done it hadn't been anything, just partners looking out for each other.

"She was fine, had a monumental hangover the following day but wasn't any the worse for wear"

"Only because you were there looking out for her" He got a thoughtful far-away look in his eyes as he spoke quietly. "That explains it…" He came back to me and spoke. "Kate's always really, really careful when we're out, about keeping her eye on our drinks and watching the bartenders when they mix the drinks, now I know why" I nodded.

"She learnt her lesson, fortunately without paying too high a price for it" I shook my head. "In SVU we see too many cases where women aren't careful enough and end up being assaulted or worse" I smiled. "I was there for Kate, same as she was for me" He smiled and nodded.

"Thank you for that, in fact thank you for looking out for her all those years" I glanced out the window, still seeing no sign of Alex and Kate and then replied.

"Kate was like my sister Rick, we looked out for one another in everything we did, she helped me, I helped her, through work, relationships, family issues, you name it, she was there for me"

"And you were there for her" Rick said quietly. "Thank you" I played it off.

"Like I said, sisters" I smiled. "Like Kate I was an only child, so I bonded with Kate and her with me, that's where the whole sister's thing came from" I smiled a little at the memory, and more recent echoes. "For an only child I'm kinda blessed with that now; Alex, Maura and Natalie claim they're 'sisters from different misters', they consider each other sisters, I see Ana and Jane a bit like that too and I know they feel the same, but Kate will always be my little sister" He smiled in understanding.

"She's lucky to have you" I smiled in return as I leaned back against the bench.

"It's me who's lucky, she's been a wonderful partner, friend and sister to me" He smiled as he spoke.

"Let's agree that you're both very lucky" I nodded once.

"I can get on board with that" We stood there quietly for a few moments enjoying the peace before something suddenly occurred to me

"There is one more thing I should mention" Rick looked across at me, the question on his face. "I know it's a bit late but as we're agreed that Kate is my little sister I need to give you the big sister warning" He smiled, a bit relieved.

"You don't have to, I've already got it from Ryan and Esposito back at the precinct" I shook my head.

"Let me guess, you hurt her and bad things happen to you, very bad things" He chuckled and shook his head slowly, obviously remembering what they'd said.

"Yeah, they were pretty inventive, let me tell you" I nodded once, not smiling, he needed to understand what he was getting into with Kate.

"I'm not that inventive, so I'll be brief. Kate's my little sister; you hurt her, treat her badly and break her heart and you'll answer to me, trust me, I won't be in a forgiving mood" His smile dimmed as he realised I was serious.

"Liv, I'd never want her to be hurt, I love her too much for that" I nodded once as I spoke.

"I get that, hell it's all I've seen all weekend. She's happy, she's opened up in a way I've never seen before, you're good for her and she loves you. I also get that couples bicker and quarrel, I'm cool with that" I raised my hand and pointed at him. "But you break her heart and they'll never find your body, not one piece of it, ever" He stared at me for almost 10 seconds, not saying anything as I kept my face impassive. Finally he nodded once.

"If I do that, you have my blessing" I nodded once.

"I'll hold you to that" Wanting to change the subject to something a little less heavy I motioned to my empty cup. "So where's my damned coffee?"

He smiled, with relief and perhaps a little of something else and bent back to the espresso machine, starting to heat the milk as the coffee started dripping into a fresh cup. I watched him work for a few seconds before his head came up as he heard something, my eyes following his as we looked out to where Alex and Kate were laughing like fools, holding onto each other as they stumbled through the gate from the beach towards the house. I felt a smile blossom at the sight. Alex was happy and Kate; well she was happy and relaxed in a way I'd never really seen before.

"It looks like they're having fun" I turned at Rick's dry comment, nodding in agreement as I replied.

"Sure are, you must be doing something right" I looked back again, they both had huge smiles as they walked across the lawn, arms around each other's waists, looking like they didn't have a care in the world, I felt my spirits lift seeing two people I really cared about that happy. I glanced back at Rick, seeing a tender smile there. "She's happy in a way I've never really seen before Rick, it's you; you're responsible for that" He glanced my way then back out at the two women, their blonde hair blowing in the breeze as he spoke quietly.

"She deserves it, after everything that's happened, everything she's been through she deserves to be happy"

"She does" I saw them stepping up to the back patio, they'd be here in seconds so I needed to wrap this up, grabbing two fresh cups I walked his way, smiling. "You've done well"


	8. Chapter 8

**Hampton's Hiatus**

 **08 Sunday Lunch**

Olivia's viewpoint

We'd had a quiet, lazy morning sprawled around the family room, desultorily talking, as often one or more of us had drifted off, Rick and Kate were lying together on one of his massive couches, Alex lying along another with me snuggled behind her sandwiched between the back cushions and the much more comfortable form of her soft, warm body, holding her to me with an arm over her waist and curled protectively over her.

Given the schedules we'd both been keeping lately, it was an amazing gift to be able to just lie here, safe from the world, just us. I knew Kate and Rick felt the same, no call in's, no homicides, no late night phone calls to the hospital, the precinct or a crime scene, simply enjoying a moment of peace in the chaos that was our lives.

All good things have to end however and we'd eventually bestirred ourselves for lunch. We'd found ourselves enjoying Rick's lovely Cobb salad made to the original old recipe, with bacon, grilled chicken, eggs, avocado, cheese, chives and plenty of greens, all topped off with some delicious black olives and a home-made red-wine dressing, it had looked amazing and tasted even better, we'd all gone back for a second helpings.

Now though we were back on the couches, upright this time and enjoying coffee and a chat. Naturally both Alex and Rick had pressed us for some more stories from back in the day, so we'd idly reminisced for a while when Kate suddenly looked my way.

"Remember that time we got 'loaned' to vice" Kate smiled as she put air quotes around loaned. I couldn't help rolling my eyes before replying.

"Hell yeah, needed our help my ass; the creepy pervert" Kate and Alex exchanged a look then turned back to look at Kate and I, their entreaties ignored as we waited to see who'd crack first. It was Rick, turning to look at Kate sitting next to him.

"Well, you can't just say that and leave us hanging…" She shrugged, trying to play it down.

"It's not much of a story, we were approached to help out on a vice sting going down in the adjacent precinct's area, they claimed that they didn't have enough female officers to try and close down a case, basically we had to pretend to be hookers to help catch a rapist targeting the street girls" Alex looked up at me from where her head was happily resting in my lap and raised an eyebrow, which looked a bit strange from that angle as she asked the obvious question.

"Walking the streets dressed as a prostitute?" I sighed, mostly in memory of cold nights with my ass hanging out in a leather skirt and fishnets then explained.

"Yeah, we had a few issues. On the first night vice had done a sweep and picked up a few of the girls from the area, leaving the field clear for us if you like" Kate nodded and took up the story.

"Yeah, the pimps were too busy down at the precinct trying to get their girls sprung so we weren't hassled too much, at least not that night" She shrugged. "We worked through the night but no one matching the description of the suspect showed up that night"

I shook my head at how exposed we'd been, just us and a radio mike to a van a block away, in retrospect and with the experience I had now, back up had been too far away to be of any help if real trouble had hit, exchanging a glance with Kate I got a small but meaningful look, she was remembering that aspect too. I decided then and there that our other halves didn't need to know about that part, instead moving the story along.

"The second night a few too many of the local working girls complained that we were working their turf and taking all their clients attention, a couple got aggressive, but one flash of the badge and they backed off" I shrugged. "Once we explained why we were there they calmed down, well they did, their pimps not so much" Alex looked from Kate to me and spoke up.

"Oh, what happened?" I shrugged.

"One pimp decided he didn't like strange girls working 'his' turf and not paying him for the privilege so he came on to us hard, he planned to make sure we either ended up working for him or going to hospital" Kate's laugh was light and happy.

"Oh that jackass, he got what he deserved" Rick looked at her, glanced at me and then made a coaxing gesture.

"Well…" Kate smiled a little wider and explained.

"Before we could get our badges out he pulled a knife, threatening to carve us up, well that was a mistake. He ended up flat on his back with no knife while we kicked the shit out of him"

"Yeah, I may not particularly like high heels, but they can do some real damage when you use them right" I said as I smiled at the memory. "By the time the vice guys turned up he was happy to be dragged away"

"How long?" At Rick's question Kate looked his way, the question on her face easily seen. "I mean how long were you two undercover?"

"Almost two weeks, at least till it came to an abrupt end" Alex looked up at me and spoke up.

"Why, did you catch the rapist?" I shook my head.

"No, he didn't appear during the time we were on the job. In the end we went back to our jobs and a couple of other cops picked up the trail, they were the ones that eventually spotted a suspicious car lurking close and got the plate number. They called it in and tracked the guy down, they raided his place and found duct tape of the same brand that he'd used before, clothes with dried blood on them where he'd assaulted two of his victims who'd fought back, plus they were able to match both his DNA and those of his victims" I smiled. "He got to go away for 10 years" Alex frowned darkly, her voice angry as her head came up off my lap.

"For multiple counts of rape and aggravated sexual assault with violence, that's nothing" I nodded as Kate spoke up.

"Different time back then Alex, Today it'd be very different but back then…" She shook her head sadly. "The fact that he was targeting street prostitutes didn't weigh very heavily with the sentencing judge either" Alex sat up, her face and voice both still angry.

"Which piece of filth was presiding?" I tried but couldn't remember; Kate however could.

"Tompkins, an old school judge, straight out of the fifties, with a fifties mind set" Alex tipped her head, trying to remember him before her expression cleared.

"Is that the sexist son of a bitch who got fired a few years back, didn't he say something unconscionable and a couple of journalists standing nearby heard him…" I nodded, remembering it now, and remembering exactly what I felt when I'd first heard it too.

"Yeah, he said something along the lines of 'rape is impossible because a woman with her skirt up can run faster than a guy with his pants down'…" I shook my head. "Oh dear god save us from idiots" The looks on Alex, Kate and Rick's faces were a study in pure incredulity; Rick was the first to speak.

"How did someone like him get to be a judge, in this day and age?" Kate shook her head slowly as she spoke.

"It's not today, that was well over a decade ago and there were still holdouts and hangovers from the bad old days hanging round like bad smells, people like Tompkins" Alex was still looking grim, her voice reflecting that.

"God help him if I had to deal with a sexist bastard like that in one of my trials" I hoped she was only blowing off steam, but this was Alex, she'd been held in contempt before and given the cases she dealt with, I could imagine her going off. Deciding it was time to turn things around to something a little less unpleasant I restarted our story.

"Anyway, I was talking about our vice case…" Everyone settled back a bit, with Alex snuggling into the end of the couch where she could watch me, a small smile on her face as she encouraged me.

"Yes you were, go on" I smiled and nodded before continuing.

"We were there for about two weeks, most nights; as I said we didn't find the guy and felt pretty pissed that we were standing with our asses hanging out freezing on street corners for no return"

"Not my choice of career let me tell you" It was Kate, smiling a little. I nodded and pressed on.

"Mind you, we both reckoned that the reason we got called in was that precinct's Vice Captain wanted to see us in stupidly short mini's, fishnets and stripper heels" I saw Alex's eyes narrow contemplatively, obviously she was picturing me dressed up like that, the small smirk that appeared, together with one lifted eyebrow told me that the image wasn't totally unwelcome. On the other lounge Castle nodded slowly.

"While I can't say I like the thought of you two being bait, I have to say the man did have taste, I mean he did pick two of New York's finest…" He waggled his eyebrows lecherously at Kate, getting a mock scowl from her.

"No Castle, I am not recreating that particular look for you" He leaned in and stage whispered.

"I can make it worth your while" Her laugh was pure joy.

"In your dreams Castle, on second thoughts, not even there if you know what's good for you" He fell back, a mock-pout appearing.

"Your no fun" Kate's smile turned into a smirk.

"That's not what you said last time" They shared a look that was pure heat before I decided to be a kill joy and drag us back on track.

"As I was saying…" They broke the eye sex they were engaged in and both looked my way as Kate coloured gently.

"Oh yeah, right, go on" I smiled and pushed on.

We were at it for two weeks and no sign of the reason we were there, but one night a week and a half in, we're standing on a corner, wishing the night was over so we could go home and get warm, when a top end Mercedes pulls up and the guy inside calls us over, wants to know how much for the pair of us for the night. Tells us he'll pay extra to watch us do each other" I rolled my eyes as Kate shook her head, getting Rick to ask the obvious.

"And..." Kate handled that.

"I recognized the guy inside" Kate looked over at Alex. "Remember that New York DA from around a decade ago, he suddenly resigned to spend more time with his family?" I could see Alex thinking hard before her eyes opened wide, she started nodding as I recalled the news and some of the gossip at the time, Alex had obviously put two and two together.

"You're joking right? It was him?" Kate and I exchanged smiles.

"Yep, busted on a solicitation charge, needless to say back then that was frowned upon, by his family, the media and the governor, so he stepped down, claiming he was doing it for his family" Kate snorted. "These days he'd probably get his own reality TV show" I nodded in agreement as I chipped in.

"Spending more time with his family my ass, I heard he was divorced a few months later" There were chuckles all round before Kate spoke, the amusement in her voice plain.

"That would probably have been enough to get us off the case, but we'd just passed him off to the uniforms for booking on a soliciting charge and things had started to calm down when another car turns up, a squad car from one of the local precinct houses, the two cops inside hadn't heard there was a sting on and were cruising" I nodded, unhappily remembering what they'd been doing, as I explained.

"Yeah, apparently they made a habit of shaking down the local working girls for blow jobs, don't perform and they'd run you in on a bullshit minor charge, causing trouble for the girls with their pimps" Kate nodded.

"They turned up, spotted a pair of 'new girls'…" She put it in quotes. "…and pulled over in front of us, calling us over and telling us the deal, blow them or get busted" Rick was the first to comment, his face a study in delighted amazement.

"Oh my god, you have to be kidding me right?" I shook my head as Alex spoke up.

"Does that still go on, that sort of thing I mean?" Kate shook her head.

"It still does but it's nowhere near as common as it was back then, a lot of those old school cops are long gone now, though some cops still have some of the same attitudes and behaviors" Rick prompted us to continue.

"So what happened?" I smiled a little at the memory then looked over at Kate, seeing the same dark amusement there too. She nodded at me and I took up the story.

"I looked over at Kate and once we got over the 'you have to be kidding me' moment she nodded and we ran with it. We told them they had to get out of the car if they wanted it so they both did, Kate told them to unbuckle their pants and they couldn't do it fast enough. We got them leaned back against the cruiser as we stood right in front of them, I ran my hand down my guys chest, right before I grabbed his service weapon right out of its holster" Kate nodded.

"My guy turned at the other cops shout, so I happily relieved him of his pistol and we called for backup" She smiled darkly. "The vice guys turned up to find a pair of beat cops on their knees with their pants around their ankles and two 'hookers' holding their guns on them" She chuckled evilly. 'You can imagine how well that went down, not just then but back in the precinct house" Both Rick and Alex were nodding as I finished the story.

"Needless to say, after that rather eventful night we were quickly told our services weren't required in the Vice unit after that" Kate snorted.

"Best thing that could have happened, that sleaze in Vice kept mentioning how much he needed to debrief us personally" She pulled a face. "Eeww" I nodded.

"Exactly, mind you it didn't hurt our rep none, plus when I moved across to Vice it turned out to be one of those stories vice cops tell each other so when they found out I was one of the cops involved, let's say I discovered my bona fides were well and truly established" Alex looked at me.

"We know what happened to the DA but what happened to the cops?" Kate handled that one.

"Not much" She shook her head as she pressed on. "Oh they were horribly embarrassed and had to go through an evaluation and got a verbal reprimand, mostly along the lines of 'don't be so stupid next time', meaning don't get caught, but in those days a lot of other cops were doing similar stuff, the sort of petty shit that today would get them charged and fired, back then though it was a different world" Rick nodded.

"So it seems, I'm just glad you both came out of it okay" Alex nodded, her eyes soft as she spoke, keeping her voice down.

"I agree; there's only one person I want seeing you dressed like a hooker and that's me" I smiled at her and leaned in as I replied.

"Anytime angel" The smile I got back was a little wicked, something her tone and words also carried.

"Then I look forward to seeing it"


	9. Chapter 9

**Hampton's Hiatus**

 **09 Sunday Afternoon**

Rick's viewpoint

The day had turned hot, very hot, we could have stayed inside in the air conditioning after lunch but Kate pointed out that we did have a pool and it'd be a shame if we didn't use it at least once while our guests were up. I'd made a production of reluctantly agreeing but we both knew I was kidding. Kate in a swimsuit…hell yeah! She'd grinned at me and disappeared off to tell our guests while I fixed some poolside cocktails.

Fifteen minutes later I'd got changed, made drinks and walked out to find Kate was already splayed out on a recliner in a one piece that I loved seeing her in. It was the same one she'd worn that time we'd tracked down a killer in LA and she looked as amazing in it today as she had back then, the only difference was that these days, I got to see her take it off.

I passed her a drink and was about to set the others down when our guests arrived, making us both look up and smile. I got to spend my days with Kate, I'd always thought she was extraordinary and her looks were only one part of it, though I would admit that they were the first part I noticed. Now though…

Alex and Liv, together with their friends from Los Angeles, were all gorgeous, the dresses and tuxedo's they'd worn had highlighted their individual beauty and drawn everyone's attention to them; they'd shone brightly in a sea of lights, but in swimsuits Alex and Liv looked amazing, the Lycra doing little to hide their natural looks.

Alex was wearing a one piece light blue swimsuit with a single shoulder strap that was tasteful but displayed enough of her to catch anyone's eye, with her hair piled up and held in place by a set of tortoiseshell sunglasses. There was precious little fat on that body and what little there might have been was strategically placed to smooth out her curves to best advantage, perched on legs as endlessly beautiful as Kate's she was superb and the guy I used to be looked at her with appreciation for the beautiful woman she indisputably was.

Liv on the other hand had little to no fat on that body at all. I'd already noted the powerful build of her arms the first time that I'd seen them uncovered, but in a simple black one piece there was no hiding what was an awe-inspiringly powerful physique. She didn't have the horribly overdone physique of the female bodybuilders, all striated muscle and tendons; instead she was all quietly sharp definition and obvious strength, her abs easily seen under the Lycra, obviously someone whose dedication to the gym was as intense as the results. I glanced over to Kate and kept my voice down.

"Was she like that before…" Kate barely shook her head, her voice equally low.

"Fit and strong, yes, but not like that" I stepped back and waited for them to make their way over, smiling as they did, before handing their drinks over.

"Long Island Ice Teas, given where we are I thought it'd be appropriate" They took them with thanks, each sipping them before smiling at the taste; I made them real smooth, they still had a lot of liquor but you could down them without having the back of your throat burnt out the way some places up here did them.

"Oh, that's nice" It was Alex, seconded by Liv.

"Nice, but way too easy to drink"

We got settled on sun lounges; Liv's and Alex's side by side, barely a foot apart, easy touching distance, mind you Kate and I weren't much more apart either, but it made me smile to see it. We sat and sipped our drinks as we soaked up the sun's warmth for a while before I glanced Liv's way and opened the conversation.

"When did you start working out like that Liv?" I gestured her way as she looked back at me. "I mean it's obvious you're pretty dedicated to staying more than just fit" She pushed her sunglasses down her nose, looked over them at me and smiled easily.

"It started when I was a few years shy of my 40th, I was feeling stiff and sore and my captain organised a season pass at a gym an old buddy of his ran. Told me it was either get fit or stop bitching" She shrugged. "I was a bit offended actually, I thought I was pretty fit, or I did until Mickey got his hands on me" She shook her head as I raised my eyebrow. Seeing it she shrugged. "Mickey runs a gym down in the lower Westside, not in the best neighborhood but he does a lot with the street kids so it's a neutral ground" She sipped her drink before continuing. "He looks and sounds like an old fashioned boxing coach, but he's actually a former Marine Corps Drill Instructor, physical training was his thing, turning 'boys into men and men into Marines' was how he described it. Anyway, I'd decided to give it a go and went down to his gym. He looked me up and down and kinda grinned at me and told me we'd soon work off that middle-aged spread and the fat I'd accumulated from spending too much time sitting on my ass in front of a computer" Kate shook her head, her lips pursed.

"I bet that didn't go down to well" Liv flashed her a grin as she sat back on the lounger, putting her drink on the ground next to her before replying.

"Hell no, but he just got me to run through a series of exercises, five minutes in and I was hurting, ten and I was in real agony, fifteen and I wanted to die" She shrugged. "He told me later that he was waiting till I quit" Kate just grinned as Alex laughed happily.

"He obviously didn't know who he was dealing with" Liv shot her a fond look before continuing.

"My offer to hand you over to his tender mercies still stands..." Alex just smirked and shook her head as Liv grinned. "Thought so, now quiet you, now where was I...oh yeah. Anyway I kept it up until I practically collapsed. He wandered over, gave me some water and left me to my own devices until I could sit up, then told me that I'd done better than he expected, but I could do better still" She pushed her silver-mirrored Ray Ban aviators back up her nose and lay back. "That was a few years ago and I still train there" I nodded as Kate sat up and spoke, interest apparent in her voice.

"So what does he have you doing?" Liv tilted her head to look at Kate as she replied.

"Weights, both the bar and free weights, I tell you he's got a hard on for those damned kettle bells, he loves them. There's also bag work, circuits, lots of weight and resistance training, he's a big believer in working every muscle group" Hearing her words I nodded, I did weight sessions three times a week and my instructor was a big fan of changing things round every few weeks, I was intimately familiar with those damned kettle bells, I hated them with a passion. I suddenly remembered that Liv had mentioned bag work, making me wonder if it was boxing or something else, so I nodded slowly and asked.

"Are you doing any specific martial arts training?" She turned her head to regard me.

"Some, boxing, mostly as part of the fitness training though there are a couple of professional boxers who use the gym, I spar with them regularly" She shrugged, a bit too nonchalantly to my eyes. "I also do wrestling" I saw Kate's eyes widen before she spoke.

"Wrestling, I never really saw you as a wrestler" Liv waved her hand in Kate's direction dismissively.

"It's not the stupid shit you see on television, this is all about holds and take downs. One of the guys at the gym got me into it, he was a wrestler with the US Olympic team back in the 90s" She took another pull on her drink before continuing. "I was going to blow him off when he suggested it; I'd just finished a sparring session when he walked up to the ring. Somehow he'd learned I was a cop, so he asked me if I wanted to learn something I could use at work. He stepped into the ring and told me to hit him, he kept needling me so given I was still wearing the gloves I eventually took a swing, ended up flat on my back looking up at the lights wondering now I got there. He helped me up and told me to try again. Same thing happened the next two times; after that I decided to listen and learn" Kate nodded, her voice thoughtful.

"Interesting, I'd never thought about wrestling" Liv smiled.

"It's actually pretty good for what we do; I can take most normal targets down, have them flat on their back or face down without actually doing any real damage. A lot less chance of a police brutality claim that way" I nodded, it made sense. Turning to the member of our group who'd been a little quiet I spoke up.

"What about you Alex?" She turned and looked at me, surprise on her face and in her voice.

"Me?" She shrugged. "I do all my fighting in a courtroom where words are weapons, I leave all the real stuff to Liv" Given how dangerous her life, hell all our lives were, I was concerned at her cavalier attitude. Seeing my obvious frown she smiled. "I've done some basic self-defence classes, specifically at Liv's urging, but I'm not a fighter" She turned and looked at Kate, obviously deflecting the attention. "What about you Kate, you're obviously fit, what do you do, well, besides running that is?"

"Bag work, a bit of circuit work for cardio, I do kickboxing three times a week, it keeps me fit and it's good for work too" Liv nodded slowly.

"When we get back to work, we'll have to organise a sparring session" She grinned. "See if I can still whip your ass" Kate just looked at her disbelievingly.

"Still? You couldn't at the best of times, what makes you think you'd do any better now?" Liv just gave her a slow smile as she drained her drink then stood, dropping her Ray Bans on the table before swooping, snatching up a squealing Alex and tossing her over her shoulder, easily holding her despite the flailing legs and Alex's futile banging against her back with her fists.

"Olivia Benson, put me down this instant" I could tell from the wicked smirk on her face that Liv had no intention of complying, instead she took a quick step forward as Kate's eyes suddenly widened.

No, don't you dareeeeee!" In an impressive feat of strength Liv had bent over to the side, slipped her right arm round Kate and summarily hoisted her up onto her shoulder, leaving her with a blonde in a fireman's carry over each shoulder; to be honest I work out but I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull that off as easily and sure as hell not anywhere that quick. I knew that neither was trying all that hard to get off her shoulder but they were still wriggling in her grasp.

"Stop squirming you two or I'll drop you" At Liv's growl they both stilled as she took several steps backwards, directly towards the pool edge as Alex started protesting.

"Don't you even think it!"

"Oh god no Liv, No!" At Kate's despairing cry Liv just flicked me a shit-eating grin and a wink, before she fell backwards, all three of them plunging into the pool in a huge splash.

They emerged from the churned up water, a grinning Liv and two annoyed blondes; in seconds they'd both leapt on her, trying to drag her under, with not a lot of success. I tipped my head to regard them, then tossed my sunglasses on the table, put my drink down and dived in with them, my dive carrying me under the water where my arms circled Liv round her knees as I grabbed and stood.

With a bit of effort; not only was she heavier than she looked with all those muscles but she had Kate and Alex hanging on, I stood and lifted her up before falling forward, dropping all three of them back under, sparking a free-for-all, Liv was strong and the water made it hard to get a grip on her, plus she was as slippery as an eel, probably all that wrestling training, though I could tell she was holding way back, just fending us off most of the time.

Finally, a bit exhausted, we dragged ourselves out of the pool and back to the lounges, knocking off the rest of the Ice Teas before I wandered back into the kitchen to make another round as the others sprawled out in the sun. A few minutes later I walked back out carrying a tray, handing out drinks to each with a smile. As Alex took hers I noticed the shoulder strap had slipped a bit and I could see the spiderweb of scars across her left shoulder, obviously she'd been shot. Remembering all the pain that Kate still felt from time to time from her scarring I nodded towards it.

"Does it still hurt?" Her face looked puzzled for a moment before she realised what I was referring to, she grimaced and relocated the strap of her suit over it, looking away for a moment as she replied.

"Not too often, mostly not" I nodded then spoke, a little softly.

"It's okay, Kate's does from time to time" Her eyes can back to meet mine as I continued. "I still massage Vitamin E cream in a couple of times a week, even after all this time, it makes the scarring ease off a bit, relieves the tension in it" She pulled a face then looked up.

"It's not that bad, I mean I know Kate's been hurt much worse..." I interrupted, anxious to stop her.

"It's not a competition Alex, every scar leaves issues, no matter how big or small" I shrugged. "We all have them, large or small" I pulled a face, remembering all the times cops I knew got hurt. "It's a hazard of the life we lead, as cops, lawyers or tag-along writers" I smiled as reasuringly at her as I could. "If anything can help relieve the tightness and pain then it's all good" Before she could speak Kate piped up.

"Yeah, mine still pulls occasionally, usually when I've had a bad day, it's like the stress pulls it tight" She made a one shoulder shrug as she looked a little sheepish. "Sounds dumb I know, but on bad days it plays up, fortunately now I have Rick to massage the scars, which helps, plus the cream reduces the pull"

At that Liv pulled the glasses down her nose and looked over at Kate and then I.

"Yeah, we had a similar discussion at Jane and Maura's place a couple of months back, Jane, Ana and Maura all have scars from being attacked on the job, Jane's is pretty bad and Ana's isn't much better, but as we agreed, scars don't detract from who we are, they just indicate something bad happened that we survived"

I could wholeheartedly agree with that, her shooting and surgery scars were a constant reminder of the danger inherent in her job. The comments though, and Alex's reaction to her scars made me think that perhaps she hadn't quite come to terms with it even now. It had taken Kate a long time to and I made sure to pay close attention to them whenever I could, just to reassure her of my love and devotion.

The bullet scar between her breasts had nearly taken her from me, several times that day, while the straight scar on the left side of her upper torso showed where the surgeons had brought her back to me. They were a part of her now, something that reminded me of a particularly dark day in both our lives, but they also showed she'd survived, so I could totally get where Liv was coming from.

"Yeah, the scars are a sign you were tougher than what happened" I shrugged. "Kate has them, but she's still the beautiful woman I love" Kate nodded.

"We all have them, some of them are natural, like an appendix scar or whatever, others not so much, but they're all part of us" Liv looked at Alex and smiled.

"Voice of experience angel" Her smile widened. "Our scars are one of the things that make us unique" Alex tipped her head to regard her then glanced at us.

"I guess" Kate shook her head.

"Alex, I've been where you were because someone really wanted me dead. But they failed and I'm still here like you, with Rick here, life's worth living, it's a middle finger to the people who tried to kill us that we're still here and still fighting" She reached out and took my hand with a smile before looking back at Alex. "Did you ever want to stop prosecuting the scum we cops send you after your shooting?" Alex looked surprised at the question then replied.

"No, all through witness protection I just wanted to go back to my old life, doing what I'm good at, with the people I care about" I smiled.

"Same with all of us, there have been all sorts of things that have happened to us in our lives, challenges to overcome, but we've overcome all of them to be here, with the people we love" I chuckled. "From all I've seen of you two, I'm amazed it took you so long to find each other" I looked across at Kate and smiled. "It didn't take me long to see that Kate was someone amazing I wanted to have in my life" I got a soft smile from Kate before I turned back to see Liv and Alex staring at each other for a few seconds before Liv spoke.

"Oh I knew I wanted Alex as more than a friend not long after she arrived" She shrugged. "I was a straight girl, hadn't really thought about girls that way…" Liv glanced over at Kate. "…despite having a gorgeous partner for all those years" She turned her head and smiled softly at Alex. "Then along comes a gorgeous blonde with an ice-queen persona and a passion for sending the scum to jail and I suddenly woke up one morning not long after and realised I wanted more than just friends" Alex smiled as she replied.

"Yeah, I was gay, so when I first saw New York's hottest and butchest female cop bent over a desk giving me a view of her ass in jeans, well let's say I wanted her immediately" She winked at Liv, getting a smile before she continued. "But over time I realised I didn't want her, I needed her" Liv reached out and entwined her fingers with Alex's, before bringing them up to her lips and kissing them, finally she spoke.

"Same here Al, I needed you, I'd never had a gay thought before but with you I needed you too. If I couldn't have you as my lover, well I just wanted to be your friend, to keep you close" I smiled and spoke up.

"Fortunately you did finally get a clue" I flicked a glance at Kate and then grinned. "And thank you for keeping your lesbian urges away from Kate, I'm awfully glad she's heterosexual, so thank you" Alex and Liv both grinned as I got a gentle swat from Kate.

"Castle!" Liv just shrugged casually.

"Wasn't into girls then…now though…" She chuckled. "If you ever get tired of the straight life, give me a call, Alex and I will look after you" Alex turned to look at her lover.

"Oh we will, will we?" Liv just threw her a shit-eating grin and replied.

"A friend in need…" Kate chuckled at their teasing.

"Thanks for the offer guys, and while I'm sure it'd be a hell of an education, I'm kinda happy with this guy" I looked over at her as I felt myself melt a little at her words.

"Love you too Kate" She grinned then turned up the teasing.

"Mind you, I might keep the offer as an I.O.U., just in case he ever does something stupid" They both chuckled before Alex spoke up, her voice light and full of teasing.

"You're always welcome"


	10. Chapter 10

**Hampton's Hiatus**

 **10 Sunday Evening**

Olivia's viewpoint

I'd gotten settled, curled up at one end of the couch, my legs stretched out along its length with Alex's legs paralleling mine from where she was mirroring my position at the other end of the couch, then glanced over to where Kate was sitting in one of the matching couches, her legs curled up neatly underneath her as she sat snuggled close to Rick looking very comfortable as Alex spoke up, looking Kate's way.

"Please, tell us another story about you both" Rick nodded from the other couch as he turned to look at her and seconded Alex's entreaty.

"C'mon Kate, I love hearing about you back in the day before you became the badass I know and love" The teasing in Kate's voice matched her expression.

"Oh I was always a badass Castle, it's just you didn't know me then" Rick grinned as he replied.

"Oh I'm sure you must have been green around the gills, back when you were starting out" At a sudden memory I smirked and spoke up, not able to keep the amusement from my voice.

"Well there was that one time some of the senior cops in the precinct decided to mess with a newly-arrived rookie; they sent a very new, very green Probationary Officer Beckett down to the range. They'd told her she'd been issued with the wrong pistol; that she had a left-handed one and needed to change it for a right-handed one" I smiled as Kate rolled her eyes and replied.

"Idiots, they got what's coming to them in the end though" Rick smiled as well and spoke up.

"Oh, do tell?" Kate turned to look at him and smiled, then back to us as she explained.

"I knew they were trying to yank my chain, but I played along" She shrugged with one shoulder. "I didn't want to get a reputation as difficult to work with when I'd only just arrived" I shook my head at the idiocy that still occurred as Kate continued. "The range supervisor played along for a while, before he eventually started sniggering. I eventually got the full story out of him, who the culprits were, even made him to swear to keep his mouth shut and got him to train me on the range every day after shift for the next few months. He agreed and I went back upstairs and the other cops had a good laugh at the dumb rookie, kept asking if I'd been issued with my right-handed pistol so I could shoot straight. The joke was on them though at the next pistol comp, I kicked their asses" I nodded, completely understanding the sentiment.

"Revenge is sweet" She looked across at me and grinned.

"Oh yeah, they didn't know I'd been good with a pistol even before I worked with the range guy, I ended up shooting it out with another beat cop for best female in the precinct, which turned out to be Liv here" She tossed a thumb my way. "That was how we first really met. Before that we'd been on opposite shifts, basically nodding as we passed in the corridors" They looked my way as I put my glass down and smiled as I picked up the story.

"After that we sat down and chatted for more than two hours over a couple of beers, then agreed we'd meet up for coffee that weekend. Upshot was I asked to have Kate reassigned as my rookie, we ended up as partners for almost three years before I got a promotion to Vice" Alex looked across at her, obviously intrigued to get some more background on our careers then back at me before asking the question.

"Yeah, how did that happen, I mean straight from the beat to vice, that's unusual isn't it?" Kate looked at me as I shrugged and replied.

"Just lucky I guess" Alex shook her head and Kate shot me a hard look as Rick spoke up.

"I'm sorry Liv, but you don't make the step off the beat into vice because you were just lucky I guess" He put it in finger quotes. "C'mon spill it, there's bound to be a story there" I felt a little sheepish, I'd vastly simplified things and been called out on it. I glanced Alex's way and saw the fascination there and sighed.

"Not everything's a story Rick" He was unabashed.

"Everything's a story, especially when it has to do with one of New York's other top detectives" He pulled Kate a little closer with the arm he had draped around her shoulder. "I'm still learning parts of this one's story, now it's time for some of yours" Alex nodded enthusiastically, she'd said that I went out of my way to avoid talking about myself, no doubt she thought it was good to see someone else digging for a change as Kate spoke up from the other couch.

"Might as well Liv, unless you want me telling the story, and I'll get to put my take on it…" She trailed off and gave me a nasty grin, drawing a smile from Alex and a groan from me as I tried one last time.

"It's not much of a story to tell" That got me another hard look from Kate, making it clear I wasn't going to be able to get out of this; finally I nodded and started explaining. "Like I said, we got lucky, we'd been involved in a few ops with vice, basically acting as bait in a few sting ops, not much but they'd got us noticed" I sipped my wine then leaned back, my voice getting a little reflective as I thought back to those days, there'd been some really good times amongst the bad. I stopped daydreaming and concentrated on the story. "Vice had managed to get some intel on a brothel in our patch, they suspected it was being used to house illegals, women who'd come to America for what they'd been told were jobs, instead they'd been handed off to organised crime gangs and forced to work in brothels, the nasty kind" Kate nodded and took up the thread, I'd noticed we were doing that a lot when we were together, falling into old habits I guessed.

"We'd been there a few times when they'd done these busts, I suppose having extra female cops around helped, some of these women were pretty traumatised around men so we'd accompany them to the hospital after the bust, watch over them as they were checked out, then transport them back to the precinct" I nodded and took up the narrative again.

"Anyway they were closing in on one of the guys behind the whole ring, they'd heard a rumour he was going to be visiting this particular brothel that morning, collecting the take and discussing getting some new girls in to meet demand apparently" I shrugged. "Anyway vice hit the place, front and back, full perimeter to make sure no one got out, which is what Kate and I were doing" I grimaced at the memory. "Turned out their info was right but the guy they were after was running a bit late, he'd arrived just as vice went in" Kate picked up the story again.

"So we're standing outside freezing our asses off when we noticed this Lincoln pulling in further up the street, a little out of place in the neighborhood, so I mentioned it to Liv. We could see that there was someone in it watching the bust so she told me to stay visible while she slipped into an alley and made her way round the back of the building and out behind the car" She nodded at me and I continued the story.

"Yeah, I popped out behind the Lincoln and took it in, the guy behind the wheel looked like the guy vice was chasing, so I waved Kate up for back up and moved round the side of the car, tapping on the glass" I smiled at a happy memory. "The guy nearly jumped out of his skin, he turned and saw the uniform through the glass and panicked, he tried to start the car to drive off so I stood back, drew my weapon and told him to get out of the car or else" I shrugged. "He started to get out of the car, slammed the door into me then did the bolt, tried to outrun us" I shook my head at the idiot. "On foot!" Kate snorted then spoke up, her voice scornful.

"Dumb son of a bitch" I chuckled at her editorialising and nodded as I continued.

"Yeah, he was in his late-thirties or early-forties maybe, we were both in our twenties and a damned sight fitter than he'd ever been, we ran him down before he'd got to the end of the block, I tackled him and rode him into the sidewalk, he left a trail of torn clothes and skin and blood on the concrete" I smiled at the memory and at Kate's grin then continued with the story. "He tried to get out from under me and keep running when Kate arrived. She shoved her gun in his face and told him she was too pissed to keep chasing him, so if he didn't come quietly, he'd get an all-expenses paid trip to the hospital" I shrugged. "He folded" Kate nodded and carried on.

"So we drag the guy back to the bust site; he looks like crap, torn clothes, blood dripping from a busted nose and torn up face from sliding face first down the sidewalk, just as the head of the vice squad's bitching about missing the guy. He hadn't seen us, he was standing there with his back to us but the rest of his squad did, they started staring past him at us, finally the vice boss realises no one's paying attention and turns round to find the guy he was after standing there right in front of him" Alex's smile widened as Rick chuckled then spoke up.

"Way to make an impression Liv" he said. I smiled a little sheepishly at the praise and replied.

"I pushed the suspect forward a little and nodded at the vice boss and asked him if he'd ordered a take-out of scumbag, extra rare" I felt a little embarrassed thinking back on my bravado-laced words, then pushed past that to finish the story. "He just nodded slowly and handed the suspect off to his people then looked me up and down and asked if I'd taken him down by myself" I threw Kate an exasperated look. "Someone piped up and told him it was all my bust, that I'd done it single-handedly" Kate was unrepentant as she spoke up from the other couch.

"You were being wasted on the beat Liv, plus you wanted to make detective" She smiled. "Every little bit helps" I scowled in response, my voice carrying the regret I still felt even after all this time.

"I didn't want to get ahead at your expense, it was your collar too" Kate shrugged, unconcerned.

"I got out soon enough, but you deserved the chance" Obviously fascinated Alex looked between us both then spoke up, wanting to know more.

"So what happened then?" I looked at her and pulled a face before explaining.

"After someone left me in the lurch, the vice boss told me to come by his office the following morning, he wanted to talk to me" I shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed at it all. "When we met he asked me if I wanted to get off the beat and into something bigger. I said 'yeah, of course' and he recommended that I be considered for probationary transfer into vice when an opening next occurred" I looked from Alex to Rick before my eyes settled on Kate. "Three months later I got a transfer notice to the 84th Precinct over in Brooklyn on probation" I shrugged. "That's how I got off the beat and into Vice. I turned out to be good at the undercover side of it, which got me noticed and I made detective three years later" I waved at Kate. "By which time a certain ambitious young robbery cop had already made it" Alex turned to look at Kate, taking in Rick's interested expression and deciding to help him out, besides she was obviously curious too so she asked the question.

"So how did you get off the beat Kate?" She looked at me and pulled a face.

"Well, with my partner in crime no longer on the beat with me the job wasn't anywhere near as much fun so I kinda threw myself into my job" Kate glanced at Rick and Alex before continuing. "They partnered me with an older cop but he was a lazy, sexist asshole, thought that as I was his partner and single that meant 'available', something I was at pains to point out wasn't the case" I shook my head in sadness at the still-all-to-common attitude as Kate tossed her hair and shrugged. "It took him a while to get the message" Rick broke in.

"How did you get him to back off?" I'd just been about to ask the same thing, I hadn't heard this story so I was interested in the answer as Kate smiled.

"He was constantly telling me women couldn't handle themselves out on the streets, so one day he got into a fight with a couple of gangers while I was inside talking to a shop owner, they were in the process of kicking the shit out of him when I stepped in and beat them off him, then took them both down" I nodded and spoke up with a smile, I had a suspicion about that.

"Baton?" Kate grinned and nodded.

"Yeah, it wasn't hard, I was fit and healthy, not a fat, sexist, old bastard with a spare tyre from stuffing himself with beer and junk food" Kate shrugged and carried on with the story. "After that he asked for a new partner and I did the beat solo for a few months" I smiled as I explained to both Rick and Alex.

"Kate here is a whiz with the police baton, good enough to instruct with it actually" Kate played it down.

"Well, it was something I was good at so I took classes with a trainer who taught it, I turned out to have an aptitude for it" She shrugged a bit. "I don't get to carry one now, only thing I miss from my uniform days" Rick broke in.

"You in a uniform?" He mock leered. "I miss seeing that too" Kate just flipped him the bird.

"I still have my baton Castle, so shut it" Rick grinned then made a 'zip lips' gesture as Kate smirked then got back on to the subject. "Anyway there'd been a series of break and entries over a three week period, nothing had turned up but I kept looking for a connection. I finally worked out the same maintenance company was responsible for building repairs in each building hit, they were all rentals managed by the same agency and they used the same company for repairs and maintenance. Their workers would go in and under the cover of doing work they'd case the property, decide what was worth stealing" She tipped her head and smiled, a little sardonically.

"I mentioned it to my sergeant but he didn't think there was anything in it, told me to stop wasting my time" She shook her head for a moment. "Anyway I told him I was going to keep digging and he told me to do it on my own time, not the departments, so I did" Fascinated Alex leaned forward and put her glass down before speaking.

"So how did you work it out?" She smiled past me at Alex as she replied.

"I got a copy of the maintenance work the real estate agency had ordered done but that hadn't been carried out yet. One of the places stood out, really nice house in a nice street so I kept an eye on it while on the beat; I finally spotted their van parked outside the house three days later. Knowing they'd been inside I ended up keeping the place under surveillance at night. Three nights in I spotted the same van parked across the road, watching the house. I snuck a bit closer and confirmed it was the maintenance company, the guys inside were watching to see when the house was empty" She sipped her drink as we waited, then started up again.

"Two nights later was a Friday, I knew the family had gone away for the weekend so I hung around outside and waited. Sure enough I saw the van cruise past slowly, checking out the house then head round the corner, I guessed they were going to go in the back so I followed them round" She smiled a little then continued. "I watched them enter the building and called for backup, it arrived just in time to help me catch them coming out with an armful of electronics and silverware" She smiled a little wider. "Turns out the same guys had hit other buildings across the entire borough so that brought me to the attention of the head of Robbery up in 1PP, he called me in and I ended up getting a transfer to Robbery" Alex nodded.

"How long were you there?" Kate smiled as she looked our way.

"Almost five years, made detective at the end of my second year, mostly I had a few lucky breaks and that helped. Three years after that I applied for and was accepted into Homicide and ended up at the 12th when a couple of years later my life was turned upside down by the arrival of some annoying writer" Rick smiled and shook his head then spoke.

"As I recall detective...it was you who came and got me" We smiled, we'd heard the story of how she'd called him in to help catch someone killing people, in the same manner as his books, the somewhat rocky start of what had turned out to be a remarkable partnership for both of them.

"Only cause you were a suspect" At Kate's retort we both smiled, which widened at his response.

"Well when we met I suspected you were something special, it didn't take me too long to realise you were way more than that" They exchanged a smile and a look as Alex and I smiled, before I turned to look at her sitting at the other end of the couch. I reached out and ran my finger up the sole of her sox covered foot, getting a slight jump as she looked at me. I smiled a little wider.

"Makes our first meeting seem almost tame" She shrugged and smiled.

"Different ways to the same place" She glanced at Kate and Rick who were snuggled close then looked back at me. "Doesn't matter where the journey starts, as long as you end up in the right place" I had to nod at that as Rick's voice came to us.

"To ending up in the right place" Kate smiled and chimed in.

"And with the right people" We all raised our glasses to that.

"With the right people"


	11. Chapter 11

**Hampton's Hiatus**

 **11 Sunday Evening - Epilogue**

 **Olivia's viewpoint**

We'd finally wrapped everything up late in the evening, after a quiet, comfortable meal of home-made minestrone soup and hot bread straight from the oven we'd headed upstairs and packed everything into bags and back into the beast before I'd backed her out onto the drive and shut her down as we said our goodbyes. Rick and Kate were going to get an early night and head back into Manhattan early tomorrow morning.

"Thanks so much for having us up, it's been great" At my thanks Rick smiled as Kate spoke.

"It's been fantastic having you here; we're going to have to do this again" I smiled happily.

"Love to" Alex nodded and reminded them of our invitation.

"Jane and Maura and the others have a standing invitation for you to come out to Los Angeles, maybe you could come with us the next time we organise it?" Kate glanced at Rick and then back at us as she nodded.

"That'd be cool, I'd be up for that" Alex's pleasure was obvious, something apparent in her voice as well as the smile she wore.

"We're hoping to head over in about a month or so, it'd be fantastic if you could come too" Rick smiled and laid an arm around Kate's shoulder, pulling her close.

"I'll have to see how the timing works out, my publisher's got me doing a European tour for my latest book; Frozen Heat" He shrugged. "Sometime in the next month it looks like but if I can, I'd be up for it" Kate smiled up at him and nodded before looking back at us as she slid her arm round his waist.

Me too" Alex and I exchanged a happy smile at the thought of all of us spending some quality time together with our friends in Los Angeles; it'd be just like this weekend, just even better. Alex grinned happily.

"I'll see what we can arrange around your schedule Rick; I know the others would love to see you both again"

We exchanged hugs and kisses all round before making our way back over to the car, I held the passenger door open for Alex to slide in, making sure she was belted up before I closed it, I'd seen way too many fatal accidents in my time because people hadn't had the belts done up, then made my way round to the driver's side to find Rick was holding the door for me.

"Thanks Rick" He tipped his head and spoke.

"Always a pleasure" He glanced at Kate a few feet away and his smile widened. "And thanks for the stories of you two back in the day, they were cool" A little embarrassed I shrugged as I tried to play it down.

"Honestly, they weren't all that exciting" He shook his head once.

"Not from where I was standing, you're both pretty extraordinary people and I think Alex felt the same way" Now I was embarrassed, I don't handle praise and compliments all that well. I glanced away as i mumbled out a response.

"It was mostly Kate" He grinned.

"Funny, she said it was mostly you" I shot Kate a hard look but she just smiled and shrugged, obviously she'd heard us.

"Sorry Liv, what can I say? I call 'em as I see 'em" I shook my head and then reached out, holding my arms open for a hug, she didn't leave me hanging, stepping up and wrapping me in a hard hug.

"Look after yourself Kate" I murmured, getting a nod in return and a quiet reply.

"You too, stay safe out there" We stepped apart and I turned to Rick, he reached out and engulfed me in his big arms, it was a nice feeling.

"You look after yourself Liv, we want to do this again, lots" I nodded and kept my voice down low.

"I will, you look after Kate, she needs someone having her back" He nodded as he let me go, his voice soft.

"Always" I slid in behind the wheel and smiled at Alex as I pulled the door closed and wound down the window. She leaned over and down, peering out at them both silhouetted against the lights of the house and called out to them.

"Take care, both of you" they nodded as they both replied.

"We will"

"You do the same okay" We nodded and I started the beast up, the deep rumbling sound of the 289 cubic inch motor bringing a small smile to my face. I looked out and waved as did Alex.

"Bye"

"See you soon" They happily waved as they replied.

"Have a good trip"

See you later" I dropped the car into gear and slowly moved away, heading up the driveway and out to the street, pausing at the end of the drive as another car approached along the road. I looked at Alex and then over my shoulder at the house there, bathed in the coach lights, seeing Rick and Kate standing there. Alex looked at me and smiled.

"That was so much fun" I nodded happily in agreement.

"Sure was" The other car passed and I glanced back at the house, seeing them both standing in the doorway watching us depart as I smiled. With a tap of the accelerator we pulled out onto the road and headed for the nearest turn off for the Sunrise Highway.

Little did I know that in less than a month we'd all be fighting for our lives.

 **Author's note**

Dear reader, sorry for the foreboding ending to what I hope was a happy story. I hope you enjoyed reading a little of the backstory of these two strong, admirable characters.

I wanted to bring out the closeness and the history between Liv and Kate, something which will be important in the next story I am publishing, Breaking Barriers, which will star both Liv and Kate.

It will also lead into Intersecting Lines Book 3, which will involve the resolution of the aftermath of Breaking Barriers and heavily feature Kate, Rick, Olivia and Alex

Thanks for reading this.

Mike


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